UC-NRLF 


EfiE    Dfib 


ALVMNVS  BOOK  FVND 


STORIES  OF  NEW  JERSEY 


BY 


FRANK    R.   STOCKTON 


NEW   YORK  •:•  CINCINNATI  •:•  CHICAGO 

AMERICAN   BOOK   COMPANY 

1896 


COPYRIGHT,  1896,  BV 
AMERICAN    BOOK  COMPANY. 


STO.  OF  N.  J. 
w.  P.  12 


PREFACE. 


THIS  volume  of  stories,  composed  of  historical  inci- 
dents, or  material  connected  with  the  history  of  New 
Jersey,  is  not  intended  to  be  a  record,  even  in  a  con- 
densed form,  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  State. 
The  stories  are  arranged  chronologically,  but  there  has 
been  no  attempt  to  give  a  complete  and  continuous 
account  of  events  or  epochs.  The  material  for  the 
stories  has  been  collected  from  many  sources ;  and  the 
selections  have  been  made  with  regard  to  the  interest, 
the  instructiveness,  and  as  far  as  possible  the  novelty, 
of  the  matter  chosen.  There  has  been  a  constant 
endeavor,  however,  to  present  a  series  of  historical  inci- 
dents in  a  panoramic  form,  so  that  the  reading  of  the 
stories  in  their  regular  succession  would  give  an  im- 
pressive idea  of  the  discovery  and  settlement  of  the 
State,  of  its  people,  manners,  and  customs,  and  of  its 
progress  and  achievements,  as  it  was  gradually  evolved 
from  the  Indian  region  of  Scheyichbi  into  the  State 
of  New  Jersey. 

In  these  stories  there  is  nothing  imaginative  or  fan- 
ciful, except  where  a  reference  is  made  to  the  early 

3 

393827 


imaginings  and  fancies  of  the  aborigines.  The  stories 
are  not  founded  on  facts,  but  they  are  made  up  of  facts 
carefully  collected  from  the  authorities  referred  to  in 
the  table  of  contents.  Some  of  the  stories  are  well 
known,  but  could  not  be  omitted  because  of  their  repre- 
sentative character ;  but  others,  it  is  hoped,  will  be 
found  familiar  only  to  the  professed  student  of  history. 
The  period  of  the  stories  extends  from  the  earliest 
times  of  Indian  tradition  down  to  what  may  be  called 
our  own  day ;  but  as  there  was  so  much  available  mat- 
ter, and  so  little  space  for  it,  and  as  there  was  no  inten- 
tion to  give  a  comprehensive  history  of  the  State,  it  was 
deemed  well  to  deal  only  with  the  incidents  and  people 
that  have  passed  out  of  the  boundaries  of  current 
history. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  SCHEYICHBI;  or,  The  Aborigines 

of  New  Jersey.     (Period,  prior  to  1600.) 9 

Authorities:  MSS. regarding  Indians.    Rev.  John  Heckewelder. 
"  History  of  New  Jersey."    T.  F.  Gordon. 
"  History  of  New  Jersey."     I.  Mulford. 

THE  STORY  OF  A  PEACEMAKER.     An  Indian  Woman's  Friendly  Act. 

(Period,  1632.) 18 

Authority :  "  History  of  New  York."     Brodhead. 

THE  WINNING  OF  THE  PRIZE;  or,  The  English  Ownership  of  New 

Jersey.     (Period,  1664.) 24 

Authorities  :  "  History  of  New  Jersey."     I.  Mulford. 
"  History  of  New  Jersey."    S.  Smith. 
"  History  of  New  Jersey."     T.  F.  Gordon. 

How  SCHEYICHBI  REALLY  BECAME  NEW  JERSEY.      (Period,  1609- 

1758.) 31 

Authorities :  "  History  of  New  Jersey."    S.  Smith. 
"  History  of  New  Jersey."     I.  Mulford. 
"  History  of  New  Jersey."    T.  F.  Gordon. 

FINS,  RATTLES,  AND  WINGS;  or,  The  Wild  Animals  of  Early  Days .      42 

Authorities :  "  History  of  New  Jersey."     S.  Smith. 

"  Historical  Collections."     Barber  and  Howe. 
"  The  Burlington  Smiths."     R.  M.  Smith. 

THE  STORY  OF  A  GIRL  AND  A  HOGSHEAD.    A  Story  of  the  Swedish 

Settlers.     (Period,  prior  to  1655.) 51 

Authority  :  "  Historical  Collections."     Barber  and  Howe. 
5 


PACK 

THE  STORY  OF  PENELOPE  STOUT.     (Period,  prior  to  1669.)    .        .      57 

Authorities:  "  History  of  New  Jersey."    S.  Smith. 

"  History  of  New  Jersey."    J.  O.  Raum. 

"  Historical  Collections."     Barber  and  Howe. 

"  Story  of  an  Old  Farm."    A.  D.  Mellick. 

THE  SCHOOLMASTER  AND  THE  DOCTOR.    (Period,  from  1693.)       .      69 

Authorities  :  "  Colonial  History  of  New  Jersey."    Grahame. 
"  History  of  New  Jersey."    J.  O.  Raum. 
"  Historical  Collections."     Barber  and  Howe. 
"  History  of  Medicine  in  New  Jersey."    S.  WicKes. 

THE  SLAVES  OF  NEW  JERSEY.     (Period,  1626-1860.)     ...      83 

Authorities  :  "  History  of  New  Jersey."  T.  F.  Gordon. 

"  History  of  New  Jersey."  J.  O.  Raum. 

"  Historical  Collections."  Barber  and  Howe. 

"  Story  of  an  Old  Farm."  A.  D.  Mellick. 

A  JERSEY' TEA  PARTY;  or,  The  Burning  of  the  Tea  at  Cohansey. 

(Period,  1774.) 93 

Authorities :  "  History  of  New  Jersey."     I.  Mulford. 

"  History  of  New  Jersey."  J.  O.  Raum. 

"  Historical  Collections."  Barber  and  Howe. 

"  Story  of  an  Old  Farm."  A.  D.  Mellick. 

THE  STORY  OF  A  SPY.    (Period,  1758-80.) 102 

Authority:  "  Our  Home,"  published  in  Somerville,  N.J..  1873. 

A  MAN  WHO  COVETED  WASHINGTON'S  SHOES;    or,  The  Story  of 

General  Charles  Lee.     (Period,  1758-85.)          .         .         .         .117 

Authorities :  "  Historical  Collections."    Barber  and  Howe. 
"  Story  of  an  Old  Farm."    A.  D.  Mellick. 
Life  of  Lord  Stirling."    W.  Duer. 

THE  MAN  IN  THE  "  AUGER  HOLE."    From  the  Journal  of  Mrs. 

Margaret  Hill  Morris.     (Period,  1776-82.)         .         ...     130 

Authorities:  "The  Burlington  Smiths."     k.  M.  Smith. 
11  History  of  New  Jersey."     I    I-.  <  ...idon. 


PAGE 

THE    STORY    OF   Two    CAPTAINS.      Captain  Huddy  and  Captain 

Asgill.     (Period,  1781.) 141 

Authorities  :  "  Historical  Collections."     Barber  and  Howe. 
"  History  of  New  Jersey."    J.  O.  Raum. 
"  Story  of  an  Old  Farm."    A.  D.  Mellick. 

THE  STORY  OF  TEMPE  WICK.     (Period,  1780.)       .        .        .        .155 

Authorities :  "  Story  of  an  Old  Farm."    A.  D.  Mellick. 

"  Morris  County  History."    W.  W.  Munsey. 
"Authors  and  Writers  Associated   with    Morris- 
town."    J.  K.  Colles. 

THE  STORY  OF  FORT  NONSENSE.     (Period,  1776-80.)    .        .        .    163 

Authorities :  "  Historical  Collections."     Barber  and  Howe. 
"  History  of  New  Jersey."    J.  O.  Raum. 
"  Story  of  an  Old  Farm."    A.  D.  Mellick. 

AN  AMERICAN  LORD.     Lord  Stirling  of  Basking  Ridge.     (Period, 

1726-83.) 177 

Authorities  :  "  Life  of  Lord  Stirling."     W.  Duer. 

"  Historical  Collections."     Barber  and  Howe. 
"  Story  of  an  Old  Farm."    A.  D.  Mellick. 

MOLLY  PITCHER.     (Period,  1778.) 186 

Authorities :  "  History  of  New  Jersey."    J.  O.  Raum. 

"  Historical  Collections."    Barber  and  Howe. 

THE  MORRISTOWN  GHOSTS.    A  Story  of  1788 193 

Authorities  :  Pamphlet  published  in  1792.  •  Anonymous. 

"  Historical  Collections."     Barber  and  Howe. 

A  JERSEYMAN  AND  HIS  ROYAL  CROWN.    Joseph  Bonaparte  at  Bor- 

dentown.     (Period,  1815-39.) 204 

Authorities  :  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica." 

"  Historical  Collections."     Barber  and  Howe. 
"  Bordentown  and  the  Bonapartes."     J.  B.  Gilder. 
"Joseph    Bonaparte    in    Bordentown."        F.    M. 

Crawford. 
"  New  Jersey  Newspaper  Clippings." 


8 


PAGE 

THE  DEY,  THE  BEY,  AND  SOME  JERSEY  SAILORS.     The  Barbary 

War.     (Period,  1800-4.) 214 

Authorities :  "  History    of   the    United    States    Navy."      J.  F. 

Cooper. 
"  Historical  Collections."    Barber  and  Howe. 

SEA  FIGHTS  WITH  A  NOBLER  FOE.    The  War  of  1812    .        .        .    230 

Authorities :  "  History   of   the    United    States    Navy."      J.   F. 

Cooper. 
"  Field  Book  of  the  Revolution."    B.  J.  Lossing. 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH  AND  THE  STEAMBOAT.     (Period, 

1787-1838.)       .  239 

Authorities :  "  Appletons'  Dictionary." 

"  New  Jersey  Newspaper  Clippings." 

"American   Inventors  of  the  Telegraph."     F.  L. 

Pope. 
"  History  of  New  Jersey."     J.  O.  Raum. 

NEW  JERSEY  AND  THE  LAND  OF  GOLD.     The  Conquest  of  Califor- 
nia.    (Period,  1816-66.) 246 

Authorities  :  "  Appletons1  Dictionary." 

"  Biographical  Encyclopaedia  of  New  Jersey." 


STORIES   OF   NEW  JERSEY. 


THE    STORY    OF    THE    DISCOVERY    OF 
SCHEYICHBI. 


THE  North  American  Indians,  the  earliest  inhabit- 
ants of  this  country  of  whom  we  know  anything 
definite,  were  great  story-tellers;  and  their  histories 
consist  entirely  of  stories  handed  down  from  parents 
to  children,  or,  more  likely,  from  grandparents  to 
grandchildren,  for  grandfathers  and  grandmothers  are 


10 

generally  more  willing  to  tell  stories  than  fathers  or 
mothers.  And  so  these  traditions,  probably  a  good 
deal  brightened  by  being  passed  along  century  after 
century,  came  down  to  the  Indians  who  were  first 
met  by  white  people,  and  thus  we  have  heard  many 
of  them. 

The  stories  told  by  the  Indians  inhabiting  the 
country  which  is  now  the  Middle  States,  all  agree 
that  their  remote  forefathers  came  from  some  region 
beyond  the  Mississippi  River.  Like  the  traditions  of 
most  nations,  these  go  so  very  far  back  that  they  are 
vague  and  misty ;  but  as  this  gave  the  Indians  a  great 
opportunity  for  their  imaginations,  it  is  not  wonderful 
that  they  improved  it.  These  Indians  believed  that 
in  the  very  earliest  stages  of  their  existence  they  were 
all  animals,  and  lived  in  caves  under  the  earth.  They 
were  hunters ;  but  their  game  consisted  of  mice,  and 
creatures  of  that  sort.  One  of  them  accidentally  dis- 
covered a  hole  by  which  he  got  out  on  the  surface 
of  the  ground;  and,  finding  it  so  exceedingly  pleasant, 
it  was  not  long  before  the  whole  of  his  tribe  came 
out,  and  began  life  in  the  light  of  day. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  these  animals  gradually 
changed  to  human  beings,  and  built  villages,  and 
planted  corn;  but  in  one  respect  they  did  not  change, 
nor  have  they  changed  at  this  present  day.  Many  of 
them  still  call  themselves  after  the  names  of  animals; 
and  now  the  greater  part  of  the  noted  Indians  of  our 
country  have  such  names  as  "  Sitting  Bull,"  "  Black 
Bear,"  and  "Red  Horse."  But  the  stories  say  that 
all  of  the  animals  did  not  come  out  of  their  under- 


II 

ground  homes.  Among  these  were  the  hedgehog  and 
the  rabbit;  and  so  some  of  the  tribes  will  not  eat 
these  animals,  because  in  so  doing  they  may  be  eat- 
ing their  family  connections. 

Gradually  the  ancestors  of  the  Indians  who  told 
their  stories  to  the  first  settlers,  and  who  afterwards 
called  themselves  the  Lenni-Lenape,  moved  eastward, 
and  after  many  years  they  reached  the  Mississippi 
River.  By  this  time  they  had  become  a  powerful 
body.  But  in  the  course  of  their  journeys  they  dis- 
covered that  they  were  not  the  earliest  emigrants  in 
this  direction,  for  they  met  with  a  great  tribe  called 
the  Mengwe,  later  known  as  the  Iroquois,  who  had 
come  from  a  country  west  of  the  Mississippi,  but 
farther  north  than  that  of  our  Indians. 

We  do  not  hear  that  these  two  great  tribes  of  early 
Indians  interfered  with  each  other;  but  when  the 
Lenni-Lenape  investigated  the  other  side  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, they  found  there  still  another  nation,  powerful, 
numerous,  and  warlike.  These  were  called  the  Alli- 
gewi,  from  which  we  have  derived  the  name  Alle- 
gheny. At  first  the  latter  tribe  was  inclined  to  allow 
the  Lenape  to  pass  the  river;  but  after  a  time,  finding 
that  the  newcomers  were  so  numerous,  they  fell  upon 
them  and  drove  them  back. 

But  the  Indians  at  that  remote  period  must  have 
been  as  doggedly  determined  to  move  eastward  as  are 
our  pioneers  to  move  westward ;  and  they  were  not  to 
be  stopped  by  rivers,  mountains,  or  savage  enemies. 
The  Lenape  were  not  strong  enough  to  fight  the 
Alligewi  by  themselves,  and  so  they  formed  an  alii- 


12 

ance  with  the  Mengwe ;  and  these  two  nations  to- 
gether made  war  upon  the  Alligewi,  and  in  the  course 
of  time  overcame  them,  and  drove  them  entirely  from 
their  country. 

After  years,  or  perhaps  centuries  (for  there  are  no 
definite  statements  of  time  in  these  Indian  traditions), 
the  Mengwe  and  the  Lenape,  who  had  been  living 
together  in  the  country  of  the  Alligewi,  separated; 
and  the  Mengwe  emigrated  to  the  lands  near  the 
Great  Lakes,  while  the  Lenape  slowly  continued  their 
progress  eastward. 

They  crossed  the  Alleghanies,  and  discovered  a 
great  river,  which  they  called  Susquehanna,  and  then 
they  moved  on  until  they  came  to  the  Delaware. 
This  grand  stream  pleased  them  so  much,  that  they 
gave  it  a  name  of  honor,  and  called  it  the  Lenape- 
wihittuck,  or  "The  River  of  the  Lenape."  Then  they 
crossed  the  river  and  discovered  New  Jersey. 

Here  they  found  a  pleasant  climate,  plenty  of 
game,  and  no  human  inhabitants  whatever.  They 
therefore  appropriated  it  as  thejr  own,  and  gave  it 
the  name  of  Scheyichbi;  and  any  one  who  endeav- 
ors to  pronounce  this  name  will  be  likely  to  feel 
glad  that  it  was  afterwards  changed  by  the  white 
settlers. 

Before  this  first  discovery  of  New  Jersey,  the  Lenni- 
Lenape  had  settled  themselves  in  the  beautiful  and 
fertile  country  about  the  Susquehanna  and  the  west 
shore  of  the  Delaware,  and  hero  established  their 
right  to  their 'name,  which  signifies  "ori-innl  people;" 
and  if  their  stories  are  correct,  they  certainly  are  the 


13 

original  inhabitants  of  this  region,  and  they  discovered 
New  Jersey  from  the  west,  and  took  rightful  posses- 
sion of  it. 

It  is  a  law  of  nations,  founded  then  upon  the  same 
principles  of  justice  as  it  stands  upon  now,  that  dis- 
covery by  a  nation,  or  the  agent  of  a  nation,  of  un- 
known lands  entirely  uninhabited,  gives  the  discoverers 
the  right  to  those  lands;  and,  in  accordance  with  that 
law,  the  Lenape  became  the  discoverers  and  original 
owners  of  New  Jersey. 

We  will  not  now  allude  to  the  rights  they  then  ac- 
quired to  the  country  which  is  now  Pennsylvania  and 
other  States,  because  we  are  confining  ourselves  to 
what  relates  to  the  country  of  Scheyichbi,  the  land 
where  their  eastward  migrations  ceased.  Now,  they 
could  go  no  farther  towards  the  rising  sun,  and  they 
were  satisfied  to  stop. 

These  Lenape,  or  "Grandfather  Tribe"  as  they 
were  often  called,  were  not  merely  cruel  and  ignorant 
savages:  they  had  many  admirable  traits  of  character, 
and  some  of  their  manners  and  customs  might  well 
have  been  imitated  by  those  who  found  them  here. 

They  had  an  admirable  system  of  government ;  and 
at  regularly  appointed  periods  their  wisest  men  met 
at  the  great  "  Council  House  "  to  make  laws,  and  ar- 
range the  affairs  of  the  nation.  Their  conduct  in  their 
councils  was  far  more  decorous  and  becoming  than 
that  we  often  hear  of  among  legislators  of  the  present 
day,  whether  they  are  met  together  in  Congress,  Par- 
liament, or  Reichstag.  These  chiefs,  chosen  for  their 
wisdom  and  experience,  treated  each  other  with  the 


14 

highest  regard  and  respect.  When  one  of  them  arose 
to  address  his  fellow-legislators,  every  man  in  the 
council  room  paid  the  strictest  attention  to  what  he 
said;  and  interruptions,  jeers,  and  ridicule,  such  as 
legislators  often  make  use  of  at  the  present  day,  were 
totally  unknown  among  these  grave  and  earnest 
Indians. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Lenape  were  su- 
perior to  other  Indian  nations,  and  worthy  of  the  proud 
title  which  they  gave  themselves ;  and  in  later  years, 
when  the  river  was  named  after  Lord  De  la  Warre, 
and  they  were  called  the  Delawares,  they  were  con- 
sidered the  noblest  of  the  Indian  tribes. 

I  dwell  upon  the  good  qualities  and  high  character 
of  the  Lenape,  because  it  was  from  their  main  body 
that  numerous  tribes  came  across  the  Delaware  River, 
and  became  the  first  Jerseymen,  or,  if  any  one  likes 
it  better,  Scheyichbians.  They  settled  in  many  pleas- 
ant places,  building  wigwam  villages,  many  of  which 
have  since  grown  into  modern  towns,  and  still  bear 
their  old  Indian  names.  In  fact,  the  modern  Jersey- 
man  has  had  the  good  sense  to  preserve  a  great  many 
of  the  names  given  to  rivers,  mountains,  and  villages 
by  the  first  owners  of  the  soil. 

But,  after  all,  Scheyichbi  was  not  sufficiently  dis- 
covered and  settled  for  the  purposes  of  civilization, 
and  its  fertile  soil  waited  long  for  the  footsteps  of  the 
new  immigrants.  These  came  at  last  from  the  east. 

About  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  there  was 
a  strong  desire  among  the  maritime  nations  of  Europe 
to  find  a  short  passage  to  China  and  the  East  Indies. 


It  was  for  that  reason  that  Columbus  set  out  on  his 
expedition ;  but  with  his  story  we  have  nothing  to  do, 
for  he  did  not  discover  the  continent  of  North  Amer- 
ica, and  in  fact  never  saw  it.  But  after  John  Cabot 
and  his  son  Sebastian,  then  looking  for  a  passage  to 
Cathay  in  the  interest  of  the  King  of  England, 
made  a  voyage  to  North  America, 
and  had  contented  themselves 
with  discovering  New- 
foundland, Sebastian 
came  back  again, 
and  accomplished  a 
great  deal  more.  He 
sailed  along  the  coast 
from  Labrador  to  the 
southern  end  of  Florida, 
and  in  the  course  of  this 
voyage  discovered  New  Jer- 
sey. He  made  a  map  of  the  • 
whole  coast,  and  claimed  all  the 
country  back  of  it  for  the  King 
of  England. 

There  is  no  proof  that  Cabot 
knew  whether  this  country  had 
inhabitants  or  not.  He  saw  it 
from  his  ships ;  but  he  did  not  make  any  attempt  to 
settle  it,  and  thus  establish  a  legal  right  to  the  soil.  He 
simply  declared  it  the  property  of  the  Crown  of  Eng- 
land, and  it  is  upon  this  claim  that  England  afterward 
based  her  right  to  the  eastern  coast  of  North  America. 

And  so  New  Jersey  was  discovered  from  the  east. 


16 

About  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  Sebastian  Cabot's 
voyage,  the  French  took  up  the  idea  that  they  would 
like  to  discover  something,  and  Francis  I.  sent  an  Ital- 
ian mariner,  named  John  Verrazano,  across  the  Atlan- 
tic Ocean. 

After  having  sailed  far  enough,  John  Verrazano  dis- 
covered the  coast  of  North  America,  which  he  called 
"a  new  land  never  before  seen  by  any  man,  ancient 
or  modern."  He  took  possession  of  it  in  the  name 
of  his  king,  and,  in  order  to  settle  the  matter,  called 
the  whole  coast  New  France.  There  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  Verrazano  discovered  the  southern  part  of 
New  Jersey,  for  in  sailing  northward  he  probably 
entered  Delaware  Bay. 

But  it  appears  that  New  Jersey  was  not  yet  suffi- 
ciently discovered,  and  after  having  been  left  for  a 
long  time  in  the  possession  of  its  true  owners,  the 
Lenni-Lenape,  it  was  again  visited  by  Europeans.  In 
1609  the  celebrated  Henry  Hudson,  then  in  the  serv- 
ice of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company,  started  west- 
ward to  try  to  find  a  northwest  passage  to  China.  In 
those  bygone  days,  whenever  a  European  explorer  set 
out  to  find  an  easy  passage  to  the  East,  he  was  very 
apt  to  discover  New  Jersey ;  and  this  is  what  hap- 
pened to  Henry  Hudson.  He  first  discovered  it  on 
the  south,  and  partially  explored  Delaware  Bay  ;  then 
he  sailed  up  the  coast  and  entered  New  York  Bay, 
and  sailed  some  distance  up  the  river  which  now  bears 
his  name. 

Hudson  did  more  for  New  Jersey  than  any  of  the 
other  discoverers,  for  his  men  were  the  first  Europeans 


who  ever  set  foot  upon  its  soil.  Some  of  them  landed 
in  the  vicinity  of  Bergen  Point,  and  were  met  in  a 
friendly  way  by  a  great  many  of  the  original  inhab- 
itants. But  the  fact  that  he  found  here  possessors  of 
the  soil  made  no  difference  to  Hudson  :  he  claimed  the 
country  for  the  Dutch.  Five  years  afterwards,  that 
nation  made  a  settlement  at  New  York,  and  claiming 
the  whole  of  the  surrounding  country,  including  New 
Jersey,  gave  it  the  name  of  New  Netherland. 

Thus  was  New  Jersey  discovered  on  the  north ;  and 
after  the  efforts  of  four  nations,  —  the  Indians  first, 
the  English  under  Cabot,  the  French,  and  the  Dutch 
(for  Hudson  was  now  in  the  service  of  that  nation), — 
it  may  be  said  to  have  been  entirely  discovered. 


THE   STORY   OF  A   PEACEMAKER. 

AFTER  the  outside  boundaries  of  New  Jersey  had 
been  pretty  thoroughly  discovered,  it  was  quite 
natural  that  some  nations  who  laid  claim  to  the  State 
should  desire  to  find  out  something  in  regard  to  its 
interior,  and  make  settlements  upon  its  soil. 

This  was  not  done  by  the  English,  who  had  made 
the  first  claim  to  the  land,  but  by  the  Dutch.  In  the 
early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  West  India 
Company  of  Holland  sent  out  a  ship  containing  the 
foundation  for  a  little  colony,  —  men,  provisions,  and  all 
things  necessary.  They  sailed  into  Delaware  Bay ;  and 
the  commander,  Cornelius  Jacobsen  Mey,  gave  his  name 
to  Cape  May.  The  expedition  went  up  the  Delaware 
River  till  they  reached  Timber  Creek,  probably  not 
much  more  than  ten  miles  from  the  spot  where  Phila- 
delphia now  stands.  There  they  settled,  and  built  a 
fort,  which  they  called  Fort  Nassau.  But  this  was  not 
looked  upon  with  favor  by  the  Indians,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  the  whole  colony  was  destroyed. 

This  unfortunate  beginning  of  the  white  settlement 
of  New  Jersey  did  not  deter  the  Dutch,  who  are  a  per- 
severing and  dogged  people.  About  twelve  years  later, 
another  Dutch  commander,  De  Vries,  sailed  up  the 

18 


19 

Delaware  River,  or,  as  the  Dutch  called  it,  the  South 
River ;  his  main  object  being  to  catch  whales,  very 
different  from  the  Delaware  fisheries  of  the  present 
day.  He  set  up  a  little  colony  on  shore ;  but  it  appears 
that  the  Indians  were  very  much  opposed  to  this 
sort  of  thing,  and  this  settlement  was  destroyed 
before  long. 

But  De  Vries  still  kept  up  the  whaling  busi- 
ness ;    and    in   the   course   of    time, '  getting   out 
of    provisions,   he  left  his  vessel,  and  sailed    up 
the  river    in   a  small  craft  which  was   called   the 
"Squirrel."      He  went  up   as  far  as  the  deserted 
Fort   Nassau,   and   there   anchored   to   trade  with 
the  Indians. 

It  is  quite  plain  that  the  Indians  of  New  Jersey 
were  now  greatly  concerned  about  the  visits  of 
white  people  to  their  shore  ;  for  they  perceived  Indian  Rattle 
that  these  newcomers  were  inclined  to  settle  and 
occupy  such  places  as  pleased  their  fancy,  with- 
out asking  permission,  or  proposing  to  buy  or 
to  pay  rent.  All  this  was  very  disagreeable  to 
the  red  men,  who  had  never  shown  any  dispo- 
sition to  open  up  their  country  to  foreign  immi- 
gration. 

When  De  Vries  anchored,  he  was  very  well 
received ;  and  about  forty  Indians  came  on  board  his 
yacht,  and  made  a  call  upon  him.  They  were  dressed 
in  their  best,  and,  in  order  to  make  the  visit  more 
agreeable,  they  brought  some  of  their  musical  instru- 
ments with  them,  and  gave  the  Dutchmen  a  taste  of 
Indian  music. 


20 

The  dress  of  some  of  these  visitors  was  a  surprise  to 
De  Vries  and  his  men,  of  whom  there  were  only  seven 
on  the  yacht.  It  was  winter  time,  and  most  of  the 
Indians  were  arrayed  in  furs,  but  several  of  them  wore 
jackets  made  in  the  English  fashion.  The  visitors  were 
very  friendly,  and  urged  De  Vries  to  sail  his  vessel  up 
a  stream,  now  known  as  Big  Timber  Creek,  which, 
they  declared,  was  a  much  better  place  for  trading. 
Now,  according  to  some  of  the  old  histories,  a  woman 
appeared  in  the  double  character  of 
peacemaker  and  guardian  angel. 

Among  the  Lenni-Lenape,  as  well 
as  the  other  tribes  of  North  America, 
women  often  had  a  peculiar  part  to 
play  in  national  and  social  affairs.  If 
ever  the  services  of  a  peacemaker  were 
desired,  that  position  was  always  given 
to  a  woman.  It  was  considered  deroga- 
tory to  the  dignity  of  a  male  Indian  that  he  should  at 
any  time,  of  his  own  accord,  desire  peace.  He  and  his 
enemy  might  both  be  thoroughly  tired  of  fighting;  but 
neither  of  them  would  lower  himself  in  his  own  esti- 
mation, and  in  the  estimation  of  his  countrymen,  by 
allowing  any  man  to  know  the  state  of  his  mind. 

But  he  did  not  in  the  least  object  to  tell  his  wife  that 
he  wanted  to  stop  fighting;  and  she,  very  gladly  in 
most  cases,  would  confer  with  the  wife  of  the  other 
brave;  and  when  they  had  concluded  peace,  the  two 
men  would  immediately  sit  down  together,  smoke  the 
calumet,  and  be  good  friends;  and  all  this  without  the 
slightest  loss  of  dignity. 


21 

This  method  of  making  peace  was  pursued  not  only  by 
individuals,  but  by  nations.  Very  often  women  had  this 
important  political  duty  thrust  upon  them,  —  a  duty  for 
which  they  were  probably  very  well  qualified,  for  it  is 
seldom  that  the  women  of  a  nation  desire  war. 

This  national  disposition  in  regard  to  peacemaking 
was  once  the  occasion  of  a  serious  misfortune  to  the 
tribe  of  Lenni-Lenape.  The  tribes  to  the  north,  who 
had  formed  themselves  into  a  powerful  body  called  the 
Five  Nations,  had  long  been  jealous  of  their  neighbors 
the  Lenni-Lenape,  and  contrived  a  plan  to  humiliate 
them,  and  render  them  less  important  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Indian  world.  Being  at  war  with  some  other  tribes, 
these  Five  Nations  came  to  the  Lenni-Lenape  and  pre- 
tended to  desire  peace,  but  stated  that  this  was  too 
important  a  case  to  be  managed  by  women.  They 
declared  that  this  was  a  great  work,  which  should  be 
given  only  into  the  hands  of  a  quiet,  dignified,  and 
honorable  tribe,  such  as  their  great  neighbors,  and 
urged  the  Lenape  to  undertake  negotiations  for  the 
cessation  of  hostilities. 

As  all  this  seemed  reasonable  enough,  the  Lenape 
were  at  last  persuaded  to  become  peacemakers,  and; 
as  might  be  supposed,  they  were  entirely  successful ; 
but  they  suffered  for  their  kindness  and  good  feeling. 
Ever  afterwards  they  were  looked  upon  by  other  Indian 
tribes  as  no  better  than  women.  In  Cooper's  novels 
there  are  references  to  the  fact  that  the  noble  Lenape 
were  sneered  at  as  peacemakers  and  squaws. 

But  we  will  now  return  to  our  guardian  angel.  It 
was  after  a  visit  of  the  Indians  to  the  vessel  of  De 


22 


Vries,  that  the  peacemaking  instinct  took  possession  ol 
the  wife  of  one  of  the  Indian  chiefs;  and  quietly  and 
stealthily,  unperceived  by  her  people,  she  managed  to 
get  on  board  the  "  Squirrel,"  when  she  informed  the 
commander  of  the  real  object  of  his  visitors,  who  had 
invited  him  to  sail  up  Timber  Creek.  It  was 
the  desire  of  the  Indians  to  destroy  this 
company  of  white  men ;  and  the  narrow 
stream  where  they  wished  to  make  the 
attempt  was  much  better  adapted  for 
their  purpose  than  the  broad  waters 
of  the  river. 

Wishing  to  prevent  an  encounter  in 
which  the  sturdy  Dutch- 
men would  probably  kill 
some  of  her  coun- 
trymen before  they 
themselves  were  de- 
stroyed, she  had 
come  to  implore  the 
whites  not  to  run 
into  the  trap  which  had  been  set  for  them.  She  told 
them  that  the  crew  of  an  English  shallop,  which  not 
long  before  had  come  to  visit  the  place,  probably  from 
a  ship  afraid  to  venture  higher  up  the  river,  had  all 
been  slaughtered,  and  that  it  was  the  jackets  of  these 
men  that  some  of  her  countrymen  were  wearing. 

Like  a  sensible  man,  De  Vries  paid  attention  to  this 
story,  and  did  not  venture  into  Timber  Creek.  Whether 
or  not  he  rewarded  the  good  woman  who  came  to  warn 
him  of  his  danger,  is  not  known;  but  his  account  of 


23 

the  affair  places  her  in  the  position  of  one  worthy  of  a 
monument  by  the  women  of  the  State. 

When  the  Indians  came  again  to  De  Vries,  he  de- 
clared to  them  that  his  Great  Spirit,  or  "  Maneto,"  had 
revealed  their  wicked  purposes,  and  that  he  would  not 
sail  up  the  Timber  Creek,  nor  would  he  allow  one  of 
them  upon  his  vessel ;  and,  having  ordered  them  all 
on  shore,  he  dropped  some  distance  down  the  river. 

This  conduct  doubtless  inspired  the  Indians  with 
great  respect  for  the  brave  Dutchmen,  and  shortly 
afterwards  the  chiefs  from  nine  different  tribes  came 
on  board  the  "  Squirrel "  for  the  purpose  of  making  a 
treaty  of  peace  and  commerce  with  the  Dutch.  All  of 
these  were  now  dressed  in  furs,  which  were  their  ordi- 
nary garments;  but  some  of  them  were  recognized  as 
the  same  men  who  had  formerly  worn  the  jackets  of 
the  murdered  English  sailors.  These,  however,  were 
just  as  cordial  and  friendly  as  any  of  the  others,  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  they  now  intended 
treachery.  The  visitors  sat  down  on  the  deck  of  the 
yacht,  and  held  a  regular  council,  and,  with  appro- 
priate ceremonies,  made  presents  of  beaver  skins  to  the 
whites,  and  solemnly  concluded  a  treaty  of  friendship. 


J^Hr"***- 

"y^^&L  & 


THE   WINNING   OF   THE   PRIZE. 

AFTER  the  importance  of  the  discovery  of  North 
America  came  to  be  properly  appreciated  by 
the  nations  of  Europe,  the  ownership  was  looked 
upon  as  a  great  national  prize,  and  there  were  sev- 
eral nations  who  were  anxious  to  play  for  it.  This 
country,  so  readily  approached  by  the  Delaware,  be- 
came attractive  not  only  to  kings  and  sovereigns,  but 
to  settlers  and  immigrants.  Gustavus  Adolphus  of 
Sweden  granted  a  charter  to  a  company  called  the 
West  India  Company,  which  was  formed  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  settlements  on  the  shores  of  the 
Delaware  Bay  and  River,  and  commissioned  them  to 
take  possession  of  this  country,  without  the  slightest 
regard  to  what  the  English  sovereign  and  the  Dutch 
sovereign  had  granted  to  their  subjects. 

The  Swedes  came  to  Delaware  Bay.  They  stopped 
for  a  while  at  Cape  Henlopen ;  and  then,  of  course, 
they  sailed  up  the  Delaware,  when  things  soon  began 
to  be  very  disagreeable  between  themselves  and  the 
Dutch,  who  were  there  before  them. 

The  Swedes  were  a  warlike  set  of  people,  and  they 
held  their  ground  very  well.  Besides  making  some 
settlements,  they  built  a  fort  which  they  called  Elsin 

24 


the    Swedish    set- 


burgh  ;  and,  if  a  Dutch  ship  happened  to  pass  by 
that  fort,  it  was  obliged  to  strike  its  flag  in  token  of 
submission  to  a  superior  power.  The  Indians,  who 
were  perhaps  as  much  opposed  to 
tlement  as  they  had  been  to  those 
of  other  nations,  do  not 
appear  to  have  been  able 
to  attack  this  fort  with 
any  success ;  and  as 
for  the  Dutch,  it  is 
not  certain  that  they 
even  attempted  it.  So 
the  Swedes  at  that 
time  governed  the 
passage  up  and  down 
the  Delaware,  as  the 
English  now  govern 
the  passage  through 
the  Straits  of  Gibraltar. 
It  was  probably  win- 
ter time  or  cool  weather 
when  the  Swedes  built 
their  proud  fort  on  the  banks 
of  that  river  which  they  now 
named  "  New  Swedeland  Stream  ; " 

but  when  the  warm  and  pleasant  days  came  on,  and  it 
was  easy  to  travel  from  the  interior  to  the  river  shore, 
and  when  the  weather  was  so  mild  that  it  was  quite 
possible  to  spend  the  nights  in  the  woods  without  injury, 
there  came  an  enemy  to  Fort  Elsinburgh  which  proved 
far  more  formidable  than  the  Indians  or  Dutch. 


The  fort  was  surrounded ;  and  frequent  and  violent 
attacks  were  made  upon  it,  especially  in  the  night, 
when  it  was  almost  impossible  for  the  garrison  to  de- 
fend themselves.  Many  bloody  single  combats  took 
place  in  which  the  enemy  generally  fell,  for  in  bodily 
prowess  a  Swede  was  always  superior  to  any  one  of 
the  attacking  force.  But  no  matter  how  many  assail- 
ants were  killed,  the  main  body  seemed  as  powerful 
and  determined  as  ever.  In  course  of  time  the 
valiant  Swedes  were  obliged  to  give  way  before  their 
enemy.  They  struck  their  flag,  evacuated  the  fort, 
and  departed  entirely  from  the  place  where  they  had 
hoped  a  flourishing  settlement  would  spring  up  under 
the  protection  of  their  fort. 

The  enemy  which  attacked  and  routed  the  Swedes 
was  a  large  and  invincible  army  of  mosquitoes,  against 
whom  their  guns,  their  pistols,  tKeir  swords,  their  spears, 
and  their  ramparts  afforded  *V/-?  them  no  defense. 
After  that,  the  deserted  \  ASf'SV  fort  was  known  as 


Mygenborg,  meani 
The  Dutch  looke 
the  Swedes' 

themselves 
although 


Mosquito  Fort. 

great   disfavor 
ohtinued  to  estab- 
at  various  points ;  and 
id  not  make  an  alliance 
ith  the  body  of  natives 
who  had  driven  these  north- 
ern people  away  from  Elsin- 
burgh,  —  for  a  compact  of  that 
kind  would  be  dangerous  in  many 
ays,  —  they  took  up  the  matter  by 
themselves;  and  finally  the  Dutch, 


27 

under  their  valiant  Peter  Stuyvesant,  completely  con- 
quered the  Swedes,  and  sent  their  leaders  to  Holland, 
while  the  ordinary  settlers  submitted  to  the  Dutch. 

But  this  state  of  things  did  not  continue  very 
long;  for  the  English,  who,  although  they  had  not 
yet  settled  in  New  Jersey,  had  never  given  up  their 
pretensions  as  the  original  discoverers,  came  in  strong 
force,  subdued  the  Dutch,  occupied  their  principal 
town,  New  Amsterdam,  and  took  possession  of  the 
country,  including  New  Jersey. 

But  it  seemed  to  be  a  good  deal  easier  to  discover 
New  Jersey  than  finally  to  settle  its  ownership.  Now 
that  the  Dutch  and  the  Swedes  were  disposed  of, 
there  arose  difficulties  regarding  the  English  claims 
to  the  State.  Early  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
Queen  Elizabeth  had  granted  an  immense  tract  of 
land  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  which  was  called  Vir- 
ginia, and  that  included  the  whole  of  New  Jersey. 
Afterwards  Charles  II.  granted  to  his  brother,  the 
Duke  of  York,  an  immense  tract  of  land,  which  also 
included  New  Jersey,  and  which  was  called  New 
York.  So  what  is  now  New  Jersey-  was  then  at  the 
same  time  both  Virginia  and  New  York. 

The  Duke  of  York,  who  then  owned  New  Jersey, 
leased  the  whole  State  —  lands,  forests,  rivers,  wig- 
wams, Indians,  fisheries,  Dutch  settlers,  Swedish  set- 
tlers, everything  —  to  John  Berkeley  (Baron  of  Strat- 
ton)  and  Sir  George  Carteret  for  the  sum  of  twenty 
nobles  per  year  (thirty-two  dollars  of  our  money). 
Some  authorities,  indeed,  state  that  the  sum  paid  was 
much  smaller. 


28 

After  a  time,  however,  the  claims  of  Virginia  were 
withdrawn ;  and  not  only  did  Berkeley  and  Carteret 
enjoy  undisturbed  possession  of  the  State,  but  they 
gave  it  a  name,  and  called  it  Nova  Ccesarid,  or  New 
Jersey,  its  name  being  given  on  account  of  Carteret's 
connection  with  the  Isle  of  Jersey.  The  Latin  name 
was  used  for  a  time ;  but  the  settlers  preferred  Eng- 
lish, and  so  the  name  now  stands.  New  Jersey  was 
soon  afterwards  divided  into  two  provinces,  —  East 
Jersey  and  West  Jersey.  The  accompanying  map 
shows  the  line  of  division  between  the  two  provinces, 
which  was  made  in  1676.  It  ran  from  the  southern 
end  of  what  is  now  Long  Beach,  in  Little  Egg  Harbor, 
to  a  point  on  the  Delaware  River.  Two  other  lines 
of  partition  were  afterwards  made,  both  starting  from 
the  same  point  on  the  seacoast ;  one  running  some- 
what to  the  west,  and  the  other  to  the  east,  of  the 
original  line. 

After  some  changes  in  the  proprietorship  of  the 
Colony,  West  Jersey  came  into  the  possession  of  twelve 
men,  one  of  whom  was  the  celebrated  William  Penn, 
whose  connection  with  West  Jersey  began  six  years 
before  he  had  anything  to  do  with  Pennsylvania. 

Penn  and  his  colleagues  gave  West  Jersey  a  purely 
democratic  government,  founded  upon  principles  of 
justice  and  charity,  in  which  the  people  themselves 
ruled.  Full  freedom  in  regard  to  religious  views  was 
insured;  trial  by  jury  was  granted;  and  punishments 
were  made  as  lenient  as  possible,  with  a  view  to  the 
prevention  of  crimes  rather  than  the  infliction  of  penal- 
ties. The  result  of  this  was  that  for  a  long  time 


30 

*he.re  were  no  serious  crimes  in  this  Province,  and  the 
country  was  rapidly  settled  by  thrifty  Quakers  anxious 
to  live  where  they  would  have  liberty  of  conscience. 

In  the  course  of  time.  East  Jersey  also  came  into 
the  possession  of  Penn  and  his  eleven  associates,  and 
the  number  of  proprietors  was  increased  to  twenty- 
four.  At  the  end  of  the  century  the  two  provinces 
were  united  into  one,  and  shortly  afterwards  they 
passed  into  the  possession  of  the  Crown  of  England, 
and  became  subject  to  the  ordinary  British  laws.  For 
a  long  time  afterwards,  however,  the  State  was  known 
as  the  "Jerseys." 


HOW   SCHEYICHBI    REALLY    BECAME    NEW 
JERSEY. 


A  POINT  in  the  history  of  New  Jersey,  more  im- 
portant in  a  moral  point  of  view  than  that  of 
its  European  ownership,  was  that  of  the  purchase  of 
the  lands  from  the  first  and  true  owners,  the  Indians. 
As  has  been  said,  Berkeley  and  Carteret  issued  an 
injunction  that  the  settlers  should  purchase  their  lands 
from  the  tribes  which  had  lived  upon  them.  This 

31 


32 

system  was  subsequently  carried  out  until  every  foot 
of  the  land  of  the  whole  State  was  bought  and  paid 
for,  —  the  first  transactions  of  the  kind,  having  taken 
place  several  years  before  Penn's  treaty  with  the 
Indians  in  Pennsylvania. 

Up  to  the  time  when  the  country  finally  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  English,  the  Indians  had  re- 
sisted the  attempts  of  the  whites  to  settle  among  them  ; 
but  now,  finding  that  they  were  to  be  fairly  dealt 
with,  a  better  feeling  arose,  and  the  red  men  were 
content  to  dwell  with  the  whites  as  friends 'and  neigh- 
bors. Of  course,  all  the  settlers  did  not  promptly  pay 
for  their  lands,  and  there  were  some  minor  disputes 
from  this  cause ;  but  in  general  the  whites  regularly 
purchased  the  land  upon  which  they  intended  to  make 
their  homes,  and  in  time  all  were  obliged  to  do  so. 
As  may  be  supposed,  very  large  prices  were  not  paid 
for  these  lands ;  but  the  transactions  were  strictly 
honorable,  because  the  parties  on  each  side  gave  what 
they  had,  and  all  were  satisfied  with  what  they  got. 

The  payments  for  land  frequently  consisted  partly 
of  ready-made  coats,  kettles,  and  in  some  cases  of  jew's- 
harps.  Tracts  of  land  large  enough  for  a  town  were 
sometimes  sold  for  a  barrel  of  cider.  Now,  this  might 
appear  rather  a  hard  bargain  for  the  Indians;  but  it 
must  be  considered  that  they  had  more  land  than  they 
wanted,  and  no  ready-made  coats,  or  kettles,  or  jew's- 
harps,  or  cider. 

But  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Indians 
would  always  be  satisfied  with  their  treatment;  and 
in  fact  they  had  a  good  many  grievances.  As  has 


33 

been  said,  a  settler  sometimes  established  himself  on 
a  good  piece  of  land  without  consulting  the  Indians 
of  the  neighborhood,  or  offering  them  payment,  and 
in  such  cases  there  would  be  remonstrances  from  the 
red  men.  Then,  again,  the  whites  could  not  always 
understand  the  nature  of  Indian  bargains.  A  man 
would  buy  a  piece  of  land,  and  think  that  he  owned 
not  only  the  ground,  but  all  that  grew  upon  it,  all 
that  flew  in  the  air  above  it,  and  everything  that 
swam  in  its  waters ;  and  when  the  Indians,  after 
having  received  payment  for  the  farm,  came  there 
to  hunt  and  fish,  and  strip  the  bark  off  the  trees, 
the  purchaser  was  apt  to  object. 

A  notable  difficulty  of  this  kind  occurred  on  Sandy 
Hook,  where  a  man  named  Hartshorne  had  bought  a 
tract  of  land  from  the  Indians,  and  afterwards  found, 
that,  according  to  their  ideas,  he  had  no  exclusive 
right  to  the  fish,  game,  and  timber  of  his  new  pur- 
chase; and  he  was  especially  made  to  understand 
that  he  had  not  bought  the  wild  plums.  This  matter 
of  the  ownership  of  the  plums  afterwards  became  a 
source  of  considerable  trouble,  and  was  settled  by 
Hartshorne  paying  to  the  chief  of  the  neighboring 
tribe  the  sum  of  thirteen  shillings,  by  which  he  ac- 
quired the  entire  right  to  the  plums  and  all  the  other 
things  on  his  land. 

The  Indians  had  also  a  grievance  of  a  different 
kind.  There  was  a  conference  held  in  Burlington, 
between  the  Indians  and  the  whites,  in  1678,  which 
was  convened  on  account  of  a  complaint  by  the  Indi- 
ans that  the  English,  in  selling  them  some  ready- 


'&• 

STO.  OF  N.J.  —  3 


34 

made  coats,  had  also  sold  them  the  smallpox.  The 
temper  of  the  Indians  .may  be  shown  by  one  of  their 
speeches  on  this  occasion.  A  leading  chief  declared: 
"  We  are  willing  to  have  a  broad  path  for  you  and 
us  to  walk  in;  and  if  an  Indian  is  asleep  in  this 
path,  the  Englishman  shall  pass  by  him  and  do  him 
no  harm ;  and  if  an  Englishman  is.  asleep  in  the 
path,  the  Indian  shall  pass  him  by  and  say,  'He  is 
an  Englishman ;  he  is  asleep ;  let  him  alone ;  he 
loves  to  sleep ! '  It  shall  be  a  plain  path.  There 
must  not  be  in  this  path  a  stump  to  hurt  our  feet. 
And  as  for  the  smallpox,  it  was  once  in  my  grand- 
father's time,  and  it  could  not  be  the  English  that 
could  send  it  to  us  then,  there  being  no  English  in 
the  country.  And  it  was  once  in  my  father's  time, 
they  could  not  send  it  to  us  then,  neither.  And  now  it 
is  in  my  time,  I  do  not  believe  that  they  have  sent  it 
to  us  now.  I  do  believe  it  is  the  man  above  who  has 
sent  it  to  us."  Soon  after  this,  the  two  parties  ex- 
changed presents,  and  went  away  satisfied. 

For  many  years  after  this,  there  seem  to  have 
been  few  or  no  troubles  between  the  Indians  and  the 
settlers  of  New  Jersey.  But  matters  changed  about 
the  middle  of  the  next  century;  and  when  the  Indian 
wars  began  in  Pennsylvania,  the  red  men  of  New 
Jersey  showed  symptoms  of  hostility  to  the  whites. 
Matters  grew  worse  and  worse ;  and  the  Indians  be- 
gan to  murder  families,  burn  buildings,  and  carry 
away  prisoners. 

This  state  of  affairs  grew  so  alarming  that  the  Legis- 
lature took  the  matter  in  hand.  They  appointed  com- 


35 

missioners  to  examine  into  the  treatment  of  the  Indians, 
and  see  if  there  were  any  good  cause  for  their  sudden 
enmity;  and,  after  a  conference  with  some  of  the 
chiefs,  a  bill  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  to  put  an 
end  to  a  good  many  of  the  impositions  of  which  the 
Indians  complained.  Among  these  was  a  habit  of  the 
whites  of  giving  the  Indians  spirits,  and  then  making 
bargains  with  them  when  they  were  not  at  all  in  a 
condition  to  do  business  of  that  kind.  The  Indians 
also  complained  of  the  practice  of  trapping  deer,  thus 
decreasing  the  game  in  the  forests,  and  the  occupa- 
tion of  land,  without  payment,  by  the  settlers  who  were 
continually  coming  into  the  country. 

Another  bill  was  passed  appropriating  £  1600  to 
buy  from  the  Indians  the  entire  right  to  all  the  lands 
which  they  yet  held  in  New  Jersey.  But  as  there  was 
no  desire  to  banish  the  Indians  from  their  native  land, 
one  half  of  this  sum  was  reserved  as  payment  for  a 
large  tract  of  land,  or  reservation,  which  should  be 
their  home,  and  on  which  no  white  man  would  have 
any  right  to  settle,  whether  he  was  willing  to  buy  the 
land  or  not.  When  this  had  been  done,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  submit  the  matter  to  the  Indians  ;  and  a  coun- 
cil was  called  at  Burlington,  at  which  were  present 
the  governor  of  the  Province,  and  some  of  the  most 
prominent  Indian  chiefs. 

At  this  conference  there  was  a  notable  exhibition 
of  Indian  etiquette.  The  governor  had  called  the  Mini- 
sinks,  a  tribe  of  the  Delawares,  to  meet  him ;  and 
they  had  informed  the  Mingoians,  who,  with  some 
other  northern  tribes,  were-  then  gathered  together  at 


36 

the  grand  council  fire  at  the  forks  of  the  Delaware, 
where  is  now  Easton.  This  was  done,  because  at  that 
time  the  Mingoians  considered  themselves  superior  to 
the  Delawares,  from  whom  proper  respect  was  due. 

One  of  the  chiefs  from  the  council  fire  was  sent 
down  to  represent  the  Mingoians.  After  some  speeches 
were  made,  he  told  the  white 'governor  that  the  Mini- 
sinks,  being  Delawares,  were  women,  and  were  not 
able  of  themselves  to  make  treaties,  therefore  he  had 
come  down  to  look  into  the  matter.  As  his  people 
were  then  holding  a  grand  council  fire  at  the  forks 
of  the.  Delaware,  they  did  not  wish  to  put  it  out  and 
build  another  council  fire  on  this  side  of  the  Delaware. 
The  reason  which  he  gave  for  this  was  figurative  and 
Indian-like. 

He  stated  that  the  river  roared  and  thundered,  and 
made  a  great  deal  of  noise;  and,  if  the  council  were 
held  on  this  side,  the  distant  Indian  nations  who  dwelt 
to  the  west  of  the  Delaware  could  not  hear  what  was 
said  at  the  council,  and  therefore  it  would  be  unfair 
to  them  to  hold  it  on  this  side  of  the  river.  He  con- 
cluded with  a  cordial  invitation  to  the  governor  and  his 
party  to  meet  the  Indians  at  their  own  council  fire. 

About  a  month  afterward,  the  governor,  with  some 
members  of  the  Legislature,  and  other  white  people 
from  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  met  over  five 
hundred  Indians  at  the  forks  of  the  Delaware  in 
grand  council.  Some  of  the  speeches  on  this  occasion 
were  very  interesting.  A  chief  of  the  United  Nations, 
speaking  for  the  Delawares,  who,  having  made  them- 
selves women  by  becoming  peacemakers,  had  no  right 


37 

to  speak  for  themselves,  addressed  the  council  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

"  Brethren,  we  now  remove  the  hatchet  out  of  your 
heads,  that  was  struck  into  it  by  our  cousins  the  Dela- 
wares.  It  was  a  French  hatchet  they  unfortunately 
made  use  -of,  by  the  instigation  of  the  French.  We 
take  it  out  of  your  heads,  and  bury  it  underground, 
where  it  shall  always  rest,  and  never  be  taken  up  again. 
Our  cousins  the  Delawares  have  assured  us  they  will 
never  think  of  war  against  their  brethren  the  English 
any  more,  but  will  employ  their  thoughts  about  peace 
and  cultivating  friendship  with  them,  and  never  suffer 
enmity  against  them  to  enter  into  their  minds  again." 

Another  chief  said :  "  Brethren,  I  speak  in  behalf 
of  the  younger  nations,  —  those  who  are  confederated 
with  the  Six  Nations,  the  Cayugas,  Oneidas,  Tusca- 
roras,  Tutaloes,  Nanticokes,  and  Conoys.  A  road  has 
been  made  from  our  country  to  this  council  fire,  that 
we  might  treat  about  friendship ;  and  as  we  came  down 
the  road,  we  saw,  that,  by  some  misfortune  or  other, 
blood  has  lately  been  spilt  on  it.  Now,  we  make  the 
road  wider  and  clearer.  We  take  the  blood  away  out 
of  it,  and  likewise  out  of  the  council  chamber,  which 
may  have  been  stained.  We  wash  it  all  away,  and 
desire  it  may  not  be  seen  any  more,  and  we  take  the 
hatchet  out  of  your  heads." 

The  governor  of  New  Jersey  also  addressed  this 
council,  particularly  urging  them  to  require  the  Indi- 
ans who  had  taken  away  prisoners  to  return  these 
unfortunate  people  to  their  homes.  In  answer  to  this, 
one  of  the  great  chiefs  of  the  United  Nations  made  a 


38 

speech  to  the  Minisinks  and  the  Delawares,  in  which 
he  gave  them  a  good  scolding  for  not  having  returned 
these  prisoners  before;  for  it  seemed  that  they  had 
promised  to  do  so. 

The  council  continued  several  days;  and  the  Mini- 
sinks  promised  faithfully  that  they  would  search  all 
the  towns  in  their  territory  for  prisoners,  and  return 
them  to  their  own  people.  This  matter  having  been 
settled,  Governor  Bernard  made  a  formal  proposition 
to  buy  all  the  lands  which  the  Indians  still  retained 
in  New  Jersey;  and,  after  a  good  deal  of  consultation, 
the  chiefs  of  the  United  Nations  advised  the  Mini- 
sinks  and  Delawares  to  accept  the  terms  which  were 
offered.  After  much  talk,  it  was  done,  the  necessary 
papers  were  signed,  and  the  State  of  New  Jersey  was 
formally  bought  from  its  Indian  owners. 

After  this  great  matter  had  been  settled,  the  tract 
of  land  which  was  to  be  set  apart  for  the  occupation 
of  the  Indians  of  the  State,  south  of  the  Raritan  River, 
in  Burlington  County,  was  purchased.  It  consisted  of 
three  thousand  acres,  which  reached  to  the  seacoast. 
There  was  plenty  of  fishing  on  it,  and  there  were  wild 
lands  and  forests,  in  which  game  abounded.  Here 
the  Indians  could  live  as  they  pleased  after  their  old- 
fashioned  fashions,  and  never  need  fear  disturbance 
by  white  men.  Here  they  removed,  and  here  they 
did  live,  apparently  perfectly  satisfied;  and  after  this 
there  were  no  further  Indian  troubles  in  New  Jersey. 

The  Indians  on  this  reservation  came  to  be  known 
as  the  Edge-Pillocks,  and  in  course  of  time  consider- 
able civilization  crept  in  among  them.  It  is  a  proof 


39 

of  this,  that  one  of  them,  who  took  the  name  of  Stephen 
Calvin,  kept  a  school,  and  that  his  son  Bartholomew 
went  to  Princeton  College,  and  afterwards  taught 
school.  It  is  said  that  in  his  school  there  were  as 
many  white  scholars  as  Indians. 

In  1 80 1  these  Edge-Pillock  Indians  were  invited  by 
the  Mohicans  of  New  York  to  leave  their  New  Jer- 
sey home  and  come  and  live  with  them.  In  their 
invitation  the  Mohicans  said  they  would  like  them 
"to  pack  up  your  mat  and  come  and  eat  out  of  our 
dish,  which  is  large  enough  for  all,  and  our  necks  are 
stretched  in  looking  toward  the  fireside  of  our  grand- 
father till  they  are  as  long  as  cranes." 

The  Edge-Pillocks  sold  their  reservation,  had  the 
money  invested  for  them  in  United  States  stocks,  and 
went  to  join  the  Mohicans.  After  that,  both  tribes  de- 
cided to  buy  land  in  Michigan,  and  the  Edge-Pillocks 
disposed  of  their  stocks  to  pay  for  their  share. 

But  our  New  Jersey  Indians  did  not  fare  well  in 
the  West.  Their  fortunes  did  not  prosper,  and  they 
grew  poorer  and  poorer,  until  in  1832  their  numbers 
decreased  to  about  forty.  Feeling  the  pressure  of 
poverty,  their  Indian  disposition  suggested  to  them  a 
remedy.  They  remembered,  that,  although  they  had 
sold  their  reservation,  nothing  had  been  said  in  the 
deeds  concerning  the  game  and  the  fish  on  the  prop- 
erty; and  they  chose  to  consider  that  these  still  be- 
longed to  them.  They  therefore  sent  Bartholomew 
Calvin,  who  was  now  their  oldest  chief,  to  New  Jersey 
to  ask  the  Legislature  to  buy  these  remaining  rights. 
The  Legislature  promptly  agreed  to  do  this,  and  ap- 


40 

propriated  two  thousand  dollars,  which  was  the  sum 
Bartholomew  named,  to  buy  of  the  Indians  all  their 
remaining  rights  of  every  kind  in  New  Jersey. 

This  act  may  be  considered  as  one  of  kindness  and 
charity  to  the  former  owners  of  the  land,  rather  than 
as  an  act  of  justice,  because  there  is  no  doubt,  that 
when  the  Indians  sold  the  reservation,  and  invested 
the  proceeds,  they  intended  to  sell  every  deer,  fish, 
bird,  and  mosquito  on  the  whole  tract.  But  it  is  an 
honor  to  the  Legislature  of  that  day  that  it  was  will- 
ing to  make  happy  the  last  days  of  the  New  Jersey 
Indians  by  this  act.  That  the  Indians  appreciated 
what  had  been  done,  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
extract  from  a  letter  from  Bartholomew  Calvin :  — 

"Upon  this  parting  occasion  I  feel  it  to  be  an  incumbent  duty 
to  bear  the  feeble  tribute  of  my  praise  to  the  high-toned  justice 
of  this  State  in  dealing  with  the  aboriginal  inhabitants.  Not  a 
drop  of  our' blood  have  you  spilled  in  battle,  not  an  acre  of  our  land 
have  you  taken  but  by  our  consent.  These  facts  speak  for  them- 
selves, and  need  no  comment.  They  place  the  character  of  New 
Jersey  in  bold  relief,  —  a  bright  example  to  those  States  within 
whose  territorial  limits  our  brethren  still  remain.  Nothing  save 
benisons  can  fall  upon  her  from  the  lips  of  a  Lenni-Lenape." 

But  the  love  of  their  old  home  did  not  die  out  en- 
tirely in  the  hearts  of  all  the  Edge-Pillock  Indians, 
who  emigrated,  first  to  New  York,  and  then  to 
Michigan.  There  was  one  Indian  brave  and  his  squaw, 
who,  after  living  at  Oneida  for  some  time,  began  to 
long  again  for  the  old  hunting  ground  in  New  Jersey; 
and,  before  the  rest  of  their  tribe  went  West,  these 
two  came  back  to  Burlington  County,  and  established 
themselves  in  a  little  house  near  Mount  Holly.  Here 


41 

these  two  Indians  lived  for  about  twenty  years ;  and 
when  they  died,  they  left  a  daughter,  a  tall  powerful 
woman,  known  in  the  neighborhood  as  "  Indian  Ann," 
who  for  many  years  occupied  the  position  of  the  last 
of  the  Lenni-Lenape  in  New  Jersey. 

She  lived  to  be  more  than  ninety  years  old ;  and 
her  long  straight  black  hair,  her  copper-colored  skin, 
and  bright  eyes,  gave  the  people  of  the 
neighborhood  a  good  idea  of  what  sort 
of  people  used  to  inhabit  this  country 
before  their  ancestors  came  over  the  sea. 
She  had  many  true  Indian  character- 
istics, and  loved  to  work  in  the  open  air 
better  than  to  attend  to  domestic  mat- 
ters in  the  house.  Even  when  she 
was  very  old,  she  would  go  into  the 
woods  and  cut  down  trees  as  if 
she  had  been  a  man.  She  did  not 
die  until  December,  1894;  and 
then  the  people  who  had  known 
her  so  long  gathered  together  at  her 
funeral,  and  buried  the  last  of  the  Indians  of  New  Jersey. 

Thus  Scheyichbi,  the  land  of  the  Indians,  became 
truly  and  honestly  New  Jersey,  the  land  of  the  Eng- 
lish settlers;  and  to  this  State  belongs  the  honor  of 
having  been  the  first  in  the  Union  in  which  the  set- 
tlers purchased  and  paid  for  the  lands  on  which  they 
settled,  and  in  which  the  aboriginal  owners  were  so 
fairly  treated  that  every  foot  of  the  soil  not  purchased 
of  them  by  individuals  was  bought  and  paid  for  by  the 
government  of  the  State. 


FINS,    RATTLES,    AND   WINGS. 


WHEN  the  first  settlers  came  to  New  Jersey,  they 
found  in  that  country  plenty  of  wild  animals, 
some   of   them    desirable,    and   some    quite    otherwise. 
In  the  first  class  were  great  herds  of  red  deer  (espe- 
cially in  the  central  portion  of  the  State),  beavers,  hares, 

42 


43 

and  squirrels,  and,  among  the  dangerous  kinds,  bears, 
panthers,  wolves,  wild  cats,  and  rattlesnakes.  There 
were  also  many  foxes,  which  were  a  great  injury  to 
the  poultry  yards  of  the  settlers.  Some  of  these 
creatures  were  so  troublesome,  that  bounties  were 
paid  for  the  heads  of  panthers,  foxes,  and  some  other 
animals. 

The  white  settlers  found  New  Jersey  a  capital  hunt- 
ing ground.  Nothing,  however,  that  is  told  about  hunt- 
ing in  the  early  days  of  New  Jersey  equals  the  accounts 
which  are  given  of  the  fishing  in  the  waters  of  that 
State.  Soon  after  the  settlement  of  Burlington,  one 
of  the  townspeople  wrote  to  his  friends  in  England, 
describing  the  manner  in  which  the  people  fished  in 
that  place. 

The  Delaware  abounded  in  fish,  and  in  the  spring 
it  swarmed  with  herring.  When  the  early  Burlingto- 
nians  wanted  to  catch  herring,  they  did  not  trouble 
themselves  about  nets,  or  hooks  and  lines,  but  they 
built  in  the  shallow  water  near  the  shore  a  pen,  or, 
as  they  called  it,  a  "  pinfold,"  made  by  driving  stakes 
into  the  sand  so  as  to  inclose  a  circular  space  about 
six  feet  in  diameter.  On  the  side  toward  the  open 
water  an  aperture  was  left ;  and  a  big  bush  was 
made  ready  to  close  this  up  when  the  proper  time 
came.  Then  the  fishermen  waded  into  the  water, 
carrying  with  them  great  birch  bushes.  Sweeping 
the  water  with  these,  they  slowly  advanced  toward 
the  pinfold,  driving  swarms  of  herring  before  them, 
and  so  surrounding  the  frightened  fish,  that  they  had 
no  way  of  escape,  except  by  rushing  through  the 


44 

entrance  of  the  pinfold.  Into  the  inclosure  the  shin- 
ing creatures  shot,  —  pushing,  crowding,  and  dashing 
over  each  other,  —  until  the  pen  was  packed  with  fish, 
almost  as  closely  jammed  together  as  sardines  in  a 
tin  box.  Then  the  bush  was  driven  ,down  into  the 
opening;  and  all  that  it  was  necessary  to  do,  was  to 
dip  into  the  pinfold  and  take  out  great  handfuls  of 
fish.  In  this  way  bushels  of  herring  could  be  pro- 
cured at  one  time. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  in  those  days  game 
fishing  flourished  to  any  extent;  that  is,  sportsmen 
did  not  go  out  with  rods  and  flies  to  catch  little  fish 
one  at  a  time,  when  it  was  so  easy  to  scoop  them 
up  by  dozens. 

Shad,  too,  were  very  abundant  in  those  days,  but 
not  so  highly  valued  as  now.  In  fact,  it  is  stated 
that  when  the  settlers  became  more  numerous,  and 
the  herring  fewer,  these  fish  were  held  in  higher 
repute  than  shad;  so  that,  when  a  man  bought  one 
hundred  herring,  he  was  expected  to  take  ninety-five 
herring  and  five  shad,  or  something  in  that  propor- 
tion, shad  being  then  rather  a  drug  in  the  market. 

In  those  early  days  there  were  denizens  of  the 
waters  on  the  shores  of  New  Jersey  very  much  more 
valuable  than  herring,  shad,  or  any  other  of  these 
finny  creatures,  no  matter  in  what  dense  throngs 
they  might  present  themselves.  These  were  whales, 
of  which  there  were  numbers  in  Delaware  Bay,  and 
even  some  distance  up  the  river.  When  the  Dutch 
De  Vries  first  came  into  these  waters,  he  came  after 
whales;  and  even  at  the  present  day  one  of  these 


45 

great  water  monsters  occasionally  investigates  the 
western  coast  of  New  Jersey,  generally  paying  dear 
for  his  curiosity. 

There  were  a  great  many  snakes,  many  of  them 
rattlesnakes,  especially  in  the  hilly  country.  The 
early  settlers  had  a  curious  way  of  making  them- 
selves safe  from  these  creatures.  When  they  were 
going  to  make  a  journey  through  the  woods  or  along 
wild  country,  where  they  expected  to  find  snakes, 
they  would  take  with  them  several  hogs,  and  drive 
these  grunting  creatures  in  front  of  them.  Hogs  are 
very  fond  of  eating  snakes,  and  as  they  went  along 
they  would  devour  all  they  met  with.  It  did  not 
matter  to  the  hogs  whether  the  snakes  were  poison- 
ous or  harmless,  they  ate  them  all  the  same;  for 
even  the  most  venomous  rattlesnake  has  but  little 
chance  against  a  porker  in  good  condition,  who,  with 
his  coat  of  bristles  and  the  thick  lining  of  fat  under 
his  skin,  is  so  well  protected  against  the  fangs  of 
the  snake,  that  he  pays  no  more  attention  to  them 
than  we  to  the  seeds  of  a  strawberry  when  we  are 
eating  one. 

Rattlesnakes  were  in  fact  the  most  dangerous 
wild  animals  with  which  the  early  settlers  had  to 
contend ;  for  they  were  very  numerous,  and  their  bite, 
if  not  treated  properly  at  once,  was  generally  fatal. 
The  Indians,  who  well  knew  the  habits  of  the  snake, 
were  not  nearly  as  much  afraid  of  it  as  were  the 
whites. 

In  order  to  protect  one's  self  against  these  creatures, 
unless  there  are  too  many  of  them,  it  is  only  neces- 


46 

sary  to  make  noise  enough  to  let  the  snake  know 
that  some  one  is  approaching,  and  it  gets  out  of  the 
way  as  fast  as  possible ;  or,  if  it  has  not  time  to  do 
this,  it  coils  itself  up  and  springs  its  rattle,  thus  giv- 
ing notice  that  it  is  on  hand,  and  ready  to  strike. 

It  has  often  been  said  that  the  snake's  rattle  is  for 
warning  to  birds  and  other  animals ;  but  this  is  now 
known  to  be  a  mistake,  for  when  a  snake  rattles,  it 
strikes  its  victim  almost  at  the  same  time,  if  it  has 
a  chance. 

It  is  now  believed  that  the  rattle  is  used  to  attract 
the  attention  of  birds  "and  other  small  creatures;  and 
when  they  turn,  and  look  into  the  eyes  of  the  ter- 
rible serpent,  they  are  so  overcome  with  terror  that 
they  cannot  fly  away,  and  soon  become  its  prey. 
This  is  commonly  called  snake  charming ;  and  a  great 
many  instances  of  it  are  related  by  people  who  are  in 
the  habit  of  telling  the  truth,  and  who  have  seen  a 
snake  charm  a  bird  which  could  have  flown  away  just 
as  well  as  not,  had  it  not  been  for  the  terrible  attrac- 
tion of  those  great  eyes,  which  drew  it  nearer  and 
nearer,  until  at  last  it  found  itself  in  the  jaws  of  a 
snake. 

The  Indians  did  not  give  this  significance  to  the 
rattle :  they  believed,  as  many  people  now  do,  that 
it  was  merely  used  as  a  warning.  So,  when  an  In- 
dian met  with  a  snake  which  rattled  before  he  came 
up  to  it,  he  took  it  to  be  a  snake  of  honest,  straight- 
forward principles,  who  wished  to  deceive  nobody, 
and  therefore  gave  fair  notice  of  its  presence.  Such 
a  serpent  was  never  molested.  But  if  a  snake  rattled 


47 

after  an  Indian  had  passed,  the  red  man  went  back 
and  killed  the  creature,  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
a  sneak  and  a  coward,  which  had  neglected  to  give 
warning  to  the  passer-by. 

A  farmer  living  in  Cumberland  County  tells  a  story 
about  having  discovered  an  island  in  a  swamp,  which 
so  abounded  in  snakes,  that  he  and  some  of  his  neigh- 
bors conceived  the  idea  that  this  was  the  place  where 
they  made  their  headquarters,  and  from  which,  in 
summer  time,  they  wandered  to  forage  upon  the  coun- 
try. The  farmers  waited  until  winter  before  they  made 
an  attack  upon  this  stronghold ;  and  then  they  came 
and  dug  up  the  ground,  knowing  that  these  reptiles 
always  pass  the  cold  season  in  a  torpid  state  under- 
ground. 

It  was  not  long  before  they  came  to  what  might  be 
called  in  these  days  a  cold-storage  vault.  This  was 
a  flat-bottomed  cavity,  filled  to  the  depth  of  about  three 
inches  with  clear  spring  water ;  and  in  this  water  were 
packed  away  a  ^*^ffc^^^  great  number  of  snakes, 
evenly  laid  side  *ipi"  by  side,  so  as  to  take  up 
as  little  room  as  possible.  The  majority  of  these  crea- 
tures were  rattlesnakes ;  but  there  were  j  v  »•  ': 
black  snakes  among  them,  and  one  «•/' 
large  spotted  snake.  Besides  these,  || 
there  were,  as  the  narrator  ex- 
pressed it,  at  least  a  peck  of 
spring  frogs ;  these  having 
probably  crawled  in  to 
fill  up  all  corners  and 
vacant  places.  All  these 


48 

reptiles  were  of  course  dormant  and  insensible,  and 
were  easily  destroyed. 

There  is  another  story  which  gives  even  a  better 
idea  of  the  abundance  of  rattlesnakes  in  the  new 
colony.  In  a  quarry,  from  which  the  workmen  were 
engaged  in  getting  out  stone  for  the  foundations  of 
Princeton  College,  a  wide  crack  in  the  rocks  was  dis- 
covered, which  led  downward  to  a  large  cavity;  and 
in  this  cave  were  found  about  twenty  bushels  of  rattle- 
snake bones.  There  was  no  reason  to  believe  that 
this  was  a  snake  cemetery,  to  which  these  creatures 
retired  when  they  supposed  they  were  approaching 
the  end  of  their  days;  but  it  was,  without  doubt,  a 
great  rattlesnake  trap.  The  winding  narrow  passage 
leading  to  it  must  have  been  very  attractive  to  a  snake 
seeking  for  retired  quarters  in  which  to  take  his  long 
winter  nap.  Although  the  cave  at  the  bottom  of  the 
great  crack  was  easy  enough  to  get  into,  it  was  so 
arranged  that  it  was  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for  a 
snake  to  get  out  of  it,  especially  in  the  spring,  when 
these  creatures  are  very  thin  and  weak,  having  been 
nourished  all  winter  by  their  own  fat.  Thus  year  after 
year  the  rattlesnakes  must  have  gone  down  into  that 
cavity,  without  knowing  that  they  could  never  get  out 
again. 

The  great  rivals,  in  point  of  numbers,  to  the  her- 
ring and  other  fish  in  the  rivers  of  New  Jersey  (and 
the  snakes  in  their  winter  quarters  underground),  were 
the  wild  pigeons  in  the  air.  Several  times  in  the 
year  the  settlers  would  be  visited  by  vast  flocks  of 
these  birds,  which  came  in  such  numbers  as  to  shut 


49 

out  the  light  of  the  sun,  as  if  they  had  been  clouds 
in  the  sky.  They  would  remain  in  one  place  for  a 
few  days,  and  then  pass  on.  As  it  was  unnecessary 
to  use  hooks  and  lines  to  catch  a  few  fish  out  of  the 
multitudes  which  swarmed  in  the  streams,  so  it  was 
hardly  worth  while  to  waste  powder  and  shot  on  the 
vast  flocks  of  pigeons  which  visited  New  Jersey  in 
those  days.  When  they  came  to  roost  in  the  forests, 
they  could  be  knocked  down  with  poles  and  stones ;  and 
thousands  and  thousands  of  them  were  thus  obtained 
by  the  men  and  boys,  and  very  good  eating  they  were. 

There  was  a  summer  in  which  the  settlers  were  very 
much  astonished  by  the  advent  of  a  vast  army  of  in- 
vaders to  which  they  were  not  at  all  accustomed. 
These  were  locusts,  probably  of  the  kind  we  now  call 
seventeen-year  locusts ;  and  the  people  were  amazed  to 
see  these  creatures  come  up  out  of  the  ground,  clad 
in  their  horny  coats  of  mail,  which  they  afterwards 
cast  off,  when  they  appeared  as  winged  creatures. 

They  could  not  understand  how  insects  encumbered 
by  such  hard,  unwieldy  shells,  could  penetrate  to  such 
distance  below  the  surface  of  the  earth ;  for  they  did 
not  know  that  each  one  of  these  locusts  came  from  a 
little  worm  which  had  dropped  into  the  ground  many 
years  before,  and  which  had  worked  its  way  down  to 
a  great  depth,  and  then,  about  a  sixth  of  a  century 
afterward,  had  reappeared  on  the  surface  as  a  hard- 
shell locust,  ready  to  split  its  back,  get  out  of  its  shell 
spend  a  few  days  flying  about  in  the  summer  air,  lay 
its  eggs  in  the  twigs  of  trees,  and  then,  having  fulfilled 
all  its  duties  on  this  earth,  to  die. 

STO.  OFN.J.  —  A 


50 

Although  the  farmers  probably  supposed  that  their 
crops  would  be  eaten  up  by  this  vast  horde  of  locusts, 
no  great  injury  was  done  to  them ;  for,  as  we  now 
know,  the  seventeen-year  locusts  do  not  appear  upon 
earth  to  destroy  crops  and  vegetation,  being  far  dif- 
ferent from  the  grasshopper-like  locusts  which  in  our 
Western  countries  sometimes  devastate  large  sections 
of  farming  lands.  The  twigs  of  the  trees,  which  had 
been  punctured  in  order  that  the  eggs  might  be  de- 
posited, recovered  their  life,  and  put  forth  their  leaves 
again  when  they  had  ceased  to  act  as  insect  incu- 
bators. 


THE    STORY   OF   A    GIRL   AND   A    HOGS- 
HEAD. 

OETTLERS  came  to  New  Jersey  in  various  ways. 
O  Their  voyages  were  generally  very  long,  and  it 
often  happened  that  they  did  not  settle  at  the  place 
for  which  they  had  started,  for  there  were  many  cir- 
cumstances which  might  induce  them  to  change  their 
mind  after  they  reached  this  country. 

But  there  was  one  settler,  and  a  very  valuable  one 
too,  who  came  to  New  Jersey  in  an  entirely  original 
and  novel  fashion.  She  was  a  girl  only  sixteen  years 
old,  and  a  Swede.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
she  wanted  to  come  to  America;  but  circumstances 
made  it  necessary  that  she  should  get  out  of  Sweden, 
and  this  country  was  a  very  good  place  to  come  to. 
It  is  said  that  this  girl,  whose  surname  we  do  not 
know,  but  who  was  called  Elizabeth,  was  a  connec- 
tion of  the  Swedish  royal  family ;  and,  as  there  was 
great  trouble  at  the  time  between  different  factions 
in  the  land,  it  happened  that  it  was  dangerous  for 
Elizabeth  to  remain  in  Sweden,  and  it  was  very  diffi- 
cult to  get  her  away.  It  is  quite  certain  that  she  was 
a  person  of  importance,  because  it  was  considered  ab- 
solutely necessary  to  keep  the  authorities  from  know- 
ing that  she  was  about  to  sail  for  foreign  lands. 


52 

There  are  people  at  the  present  day  who,  when 
they  first  go  on  board  an  ocean  steamer,  are  very 
much  surprised  and  disgusted  at  the  small  size  of  the 
stateroom  they  will  have  to  occupy  during  the  voyage ; 
but  if  they  could  have  seen  the  accommodations  with 
which  Elizabeth  was  obliged  to  content  herself,  they 
would  not  look  with  such  contempt  upon  a  room  in 
which  three  persons  can  sleep,  leaving  space  to  move 
about. 

The  people  who  had  Elizabeth's  passage  in  charge 
conceived  the  idea  that  the  safest  way  to  get  her  on 
board  the  vessel,  which  was  waiting  at  the  dock,  would 
be  to  ship  her  as  freight.  So  she  was  put  into  a  large 
hogshead,  and  securely  fastened  up,  and  then  carried 
on  board.  She  must  have  been  a  girl  of  a  good  deal 
of  pluck,  for  the  vessel  was  not  to  sail  for  several 
days,  and  she  must  remain  in  the  hogshead  all  that 
time,  as  the  officials  of  the  port  might  come  on  board 
at  any  moment  and  discover  her,  if  she  should  get 
out  of  her  hiding  place.  I  have  no  doubt  that  she 
was  supplied  with  three  or  four  meals  a  day  through 
the  bunghole. 

Not  only  was  Elizabeth's  precious  self  thus  duly 
consigned  to  America  as  if  she  had  been  ordinary 
merchandise,  tjut  a  great  many  of  her  valuable  pos- 
sessions, jewels,  clothes,  etc.,  were  also  shipped  to 
accompany  her.  In  the  course  of  time,  and  it  must 
have  been  a  dreary  time  to  this  poor  girl,  the  ship 
moved  out  of  the  dock,  and  started  on  its  voyage 
across  the  North  Sea,  and  then  over  the  Atlantic  to 
the  new  country.  Not  until  the  vessel  was  well  out 


53 


of  sight  of  land,  and  free  from  danger  of  being  over- 
hauled by  a  vessel  of  the  Swedish  navy,  did  Eliza- 
beth come  out  of  her  barrel  and  breathe  the  fresh 
sea  air. 

At   that   time,  early  in  the  seventeenth   century,  a 
good  many  vessels  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  most  of 
them  must  have  made  safe  and  successful 
voyages ;    but    it   so    happened    that    the 
ship  in  which  Elizabeth  sailed  was  not 
a  fortunate  craft.     When    she  reached 
the  far-stretching  Jersey  coast,  danger- 
ous even  now  to  mariners  who  know  it 
well,  this  vessel  was  overtaken  by  storm, 
and  soon  became  a  hopeless  wreck. 

It  might  have  been  a  very  good 
thing  if  Elizabeth  had  concluded 
to  end  her  voyage  as  she  began  it. 
If  she  had  put  her  valuables  into 
her  hogshead,  and  then  had  jumped 
in  herself  and  had  asked  some  of 
the  sailors  to  fasten  her  up,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  she  would  have 
floated  ashore,  if  she  had  known 
how  to  keep  the  open  bunghole 
uppermost,  —  which  no  doubt  she 
did,  —  and  would  have  saved  all  her  possessions.  If 
one  must  float  through  stormy  waves  and  great  break- 
ers, there  is  no  safer  way  to  do  it  than  in  a  hogshead, 
as  has  been  proved  by  the  man  who  in  that  way  navi- 
gated the  fierce  rapids  at  Niagara.  But  Elizabeth  did 
not  go  back  to  her  hogshead.  She  took  her  chances 


54 

with  the  rest  of  the  people  on  board,  and  with  them 
was  cast  on  the  shore  of  New  Jersey. 

This  shore  was  absolutely  wild  and  bare,  and  what 
became  of  the  others  who  reached  it,  we  do  not  know ; 
but  Elizabeth  eventually  wandered  off  by  herself,  alone 
and  lost  in  a  strange  land.  If  the  people  who  had 
been  so  much  concerned  about  her  connection  with  the 
Swedish  throne  had  been  able  to  see  her  then,  they 
would  have  been  perfectly  satisfied  that  she  would  give 
them  no  further  trouble.  How  she  lived  during  her 
days  of  wandering  and  solitude  is  not  told  ;  but  when 
we  remember  that  New  Jersey  is  noted  for  its  berries 
and  for  its  clams,  and  that  it  was  probably  summer  time 
when  she  was  cast  ashore  (for  mariners  would  generally 
calculate  to  arrive  at  the  settlement  in  good  weather), 
we  may  give  a  very  good  guess  at  Elizabeth's  diet. 

It  was  not  very  long  before  she  found  that  there 
was  another  wanderer  in  this  desolate  and  lonely 
place.  She  met  with  a  white  hunter  named  Garrison ; 
and  very  much  surprised  must  he  have  been  when  his 
eyes  first  fell  upon  her,  —  almost  as  much  surprised, 
perhaps,  as  if  he  had  come  upon  a  stranded  hogshead, 
with  a  human  voice  calling  through  the  bunghole  to 
be  let  out. 

When  a  possible  heiress  of  a  royal  crown  meets 
with  a  solitary  hunter,  probably  poor  and  of  no  family 
to  speak  of,  her  reception  of  him  depends  very  much 
upon  surrounding  circumstances.  In  this  case,  those 
circumstances  induced  Elizabeth  to  look  upon  Gar- 
rison with  more  favor  than  she  had  ever  looked  upon 
a  king  or  noble,  for  there  is  no  doubt  that  she  would 


55 

have  perished  on  that  wild  and  uninhabited   coast   if 
she  had  not  met  with  him. 

Of  course,  the  hunter  gladly  undertook  to  guide 
this  Swedish  girl  to  a  settlement;  and  the  two  started 
off  on  their  long  tramp.  It  is  not  at  all  surprising 
that  they  soon  began  to  like  each  other,  that  it  was  not 
long  before  they  fell  in  love,  and  that  in  course  of 


time  they  were  duly  married.  If  she  had  ever  thought 
of  a  marriage  with  a  high-born  Swede,  Elizabeth  gave 
up  all  such  notions  when  she  entered  her  hogshead, 
and  left  all  her  proud  hopes  behind  her. 

This  young  couple  —  one  of  royal  Swedish  blood,  the 
other  a  hardy  hunter  of  the  New  World  —  settled  near 
Bridgeton,  and  there  they  flourished  and  prospered. 
Elizabeth  lived  to  be  ninety-five  years  old.  She  had 
ten  children,  and  in  1860  it  was  computed  that  her 


56 

descendants  numbered  at  least  a  thousand.  That 
any  of  these  considered  themselves  better  than  their 
neighbors,  because  it  was  possible  that  they  might 
have  a  drop  or  two  of  royal  blood  in  their  veins,  is 
not  likely ;  for  but  few  American  families  would  care 
to  base  their  claims  of  social  superiority  upon  such  a 
very  diluted  foundation  as  this.  But  they  would  have 
good  reason  to  trace  with  pride  their  descent  from 
the  plucky  girl  who  started  for  America  in  a  hogs- 
head, and  who  was  able  to  land  alone  and  unassisted 
on  the  Jersey  coast  in  a  storm,  and  to  take  care  of 
herself  after  she  got  ashore. 


THE  STORY  OF  PENELOPE  STOUT. 

IN  the  early  days  of  New  Jersey,  the  Dutch  settlers 
suffered  very  much  from  Indian  hostilities.  It  was 
at  the  time  that  New  Amsterdam,  afterwards  New 
York,  was  in  the  possession  of  the  Dutch,  that  a  ship 
came  from  Holland,  bringing  passengers  who  intended 
to  settle  in  the  new  country.  The  ship  was  unfortu- 
nately wrecked  in  the  neighborhood  of  Sandy  Hook ; 
but  all  the  passengers  managed  to  save  themselves, 
and  reached  the  shore. 

Among  these  was  a  young  couple  whose 'names  we 
do  not  know,  except  that  the  wife's  maiden  name  was 
Penelope  Van  Princis.  Her  husband  had  been  very 
sick  during  the  voyage ;  and  getting  ashore  through 
the  surf  from  the  wreck  could  not  have  been  of  any 
benefit  to  him,  for,  after  he  had  reached  dry  land,  he 
felt  even  worse  than  he  had  upon  shipboard,  and 
needed  all  the  attention  his  wife  could  give  him. 

Although  the  passengers  and  crew  of  this  vessel 
had  reached  the  shore,  they  did  not  by  any  means 
consider  themselves  in  safety ;  for  they  were  very 
much  afraid  of  the  Indians,  and  desired  above  every- 
thing to  make  what  haste  they  could  toward  New 
Amsterdam.  They  therefore  started  away  as  soon 

57 


58 

as  possible.  But  Penelope's  husband  was  too  sick  tc 
go  any  farther  at  that  time,  and  his  wife  was  too 
good  a  woman  to  leave  her  husband  in  that  lonely 
spot;  and  so  these  two  were  left  behind,  while  the 
rest  of  the  company  started  for  New  Amsterdam, 
promising,  however,  that  they  would  send  help  to  the 
unfortunate  couple. 

The  fears  of  these  immigrants  in  regard  to  the 
Indians  were  not  without  foundation ;  for  the  main 
party  had  not  long  departed,  when  a  band  of  red  men, 
probably  having  heard  in  some  way  of  the  wreck  of 
the  ship,  appeared  upon  the  scene,  and  discovered  poor 
Penelope  and  her  sick  husband.  It  is  unfortunately 
the  disposition  of  most  savages  to  show  little  pity  for 
weakness  and  suffering,  and  the  fact  that  the  poor 
young  man  could  not  do  them  any  possible  harm  had 
no  effect  upon  them,  and  they  set  upon  him  and  killed 
him ;  very  much  as  a  boy  would  kill  a  little  harmless 
snake,  for  no  reason  whatever,  except  that  he  was 
able  to  do  it. 

Then  they  determined  to  kill  Penelope  also,  and, 
attacking  her  with  their  tomahawks,  they  so  cut  and 
wounded  her  that  she  fell  down  bleeding  and  insen- 
sible. Having  built  a  fire,  these  brave  warriors  cooked 
themselves  a  comfortable  meal,  and  then  departed. 
But  Penelope  was  not  killed,  and,  coming  to  her 
senses,  her  instincts  told  her  that  the  first  thing  to 
do  was  to  hide  herself  from  these  bloodthirsty  red 
men :  so,  slowly  and  painfully,  she  crawled  away  to 
the  edge  of  a  wood,  and  found  there  a  great  hollow 
tree,  into  which  she  crept 


59 

This  made  but  narrow  and  doleful  quarters  for  a 
wounded  woman,  but  it  was  preferable  at  that  time 
to  the  blue  sky  and  fresh  air.  She  did  not  leave  the 
tree  until  nightfall,  and  then  she  made  her  way  to 
the  place  where  the  fire  was  still  glinimering ;  and  by 
great  care,  and  with  what  must  have  been  painful 
labor,  she  kept  this  fire  from  going  out,  and  so  man- 
aged to  get  a  little  warmth. 

In  this  way,  living  in  the  tree  the  greater  part  of 
the  time,  and  depending  for  food  chiefly  upon  the 
fungous  excrescences  and  gum  which  grew  on  the 
outside  of  it,  —  for  she  was  not  able  to  go  in  search  of 
berries  and  other  food,  —  poor  Penelope  lived  for  a  few 
days,  with  her  dead  husband  on  the  beach,  and  her 
almost  dead  self  in  that  cavern-like  tree.  The  hours 
must  have  passed  mournfully  indeed  to  this  young 
woman  who  had  set  out  for  the  New  World  with 
such  bright  hopes. 

That  she  survived  her  terrible  hardships  was  due 
entirely  to  the  existence  of  the  danger  she  most 
feared ;  that  is,  the  reappearance  of  the  Indians.  On 
the  second  morning,  nearly  famished  and  very  weak, 
Penelope  was  making  her  way  slowly  over  the  ground, 
endeavoring  to  find  something  she  could  eat,  or  a  little 
dew  in  the  hollow  of  a  leaf,  that  she  might  drink, 
when  suddenly  there  came  out  of  the  woods  two  tall 
Indians,  who,  naturally  enough,  were  much  surprised 
to  find  a  wounded  white  woman  there  alone  upon  the 
seashore. 

Penelope  gave  herself  up  as  lost.  There  was  noth- 
ing now  for  her  to  do  but  to  submit  to  her  fate.  It 


6o 


was  a  pity,  she  thought,  that  she  had  not  been  slain 
with  her  husband. 

But  the  Indians  did  not  immediately  rush  at  her 
with  their  tomahawks :  they  stood  and  talked  to- 
gether, evidently  about  her,  with  their  fierce  eyes 
continually  fixed  upon  her. 
Then  their  conversation  be- 
came more  animated,  and 
it  was  soon  plain  that 
they  were  disputing.  Of 
course,  she  did  not  then 
know  the  cause  of  their 
difference  of  opinion ;  but 
she  found  out  afterwards  that  one 
of  them  was  in  favor  of  killing  her 
upon  the  spot,  and  the  other,  an  older 
man  than  his  companion,  was  more 
mercifully  inclined,  and  wished  to  carry 
her  off  as  a  prisoner  to  their  camp. 
At  last  the  older  man  got  the 
better  of  the  other  one ;  and  he, 
being  determined  that  the  poor 
wounded  woman  should  be  taken 
care  of,  took  her  up  and  put  her 
on  his  shoulder,  and  marched  away 
with  her.  That  an  Indian  should  be  able  to  perform 
a  feat  like  this  is  not  at  all  surprising ;  for  when  one 
of  them  shoots  a  deer  in  the  forest,  though  many  of 
those  animals  are  heavier  than  Penelope  was,  he  will 
put  it  on  his  back  and  carry  it  through  the  forests, 
perhaps  for  miles,  until  he  reaches  his  camp.  And 


6i 

so  Penelope,  as  if  she  had  been  a  deer  wounded  by 
some  other  hunters,  which  these  men  had  found,  was 
carried  to  the  Indian  camp. 

There  she  was  taken  care  of.  Food  and  drink 
were  given  her.  Her  wounds  were  dressed  and 
treated  after  the  Indian  fashion.  In  due  course  of 
time  she  recovered  her  health  and  strength,  and 
there  —  living  in  a  wigwam,  among  the  women  and 
children  of  the  village,  pounding  corn,  cooking  food, 
carrying  burdens  as  did  the  Indian  women  —  she  re- 
mained for  some  time,  not  daring  even  to  try  to 
escape;  for  in  that  wild  country  there  was  no  place 
of  safety  to  which  it  was  possible  for  her  to  flee. 

Although  there  was  a  good  deal  of  bad  feeling 
between  the  Indians  and  the  whites  at  that  time, 
they  still  traded  and  communicated  with  each  other; 
and  when,  in.  the  course  of  time,  it  became  known 
in  New  Amsterdam  that  there  was  a  white  woman 
held  as  a  prisoner  in  this  Indian  camp,  there  was 
every  reason  to  suppose  that  this  woman  was  the 
young  wife  who  had  been  left  on  the  seacoast  by 
the  survivors  of  the  wreck.  Consequently  some  of 
the  men  who  had  been  her  fellow-passengers  came 
over  to  the  Indian  camp,  which  was  not  far  from 
where  Middletown  now  stands.  Here,  as  they  had 
expected,  they  found  Penelope,  and  demanded  that 
the  Indians  should  give  her  up. 

After  some  discussion,  it  was  agreed  that  the  matter 
should  be  left  with  Penelope  herself ;  and  the  old  Indian 
who  had  saved  her  life  went  to  her,  —  for  of  course,  be- 
ing an  inferior,  she  was  not  present  at  the  conference, 


62 

—  and  put  the  question  before  her.  Here  she  was, 
with  a  comfortable  wigwam,  plenty  to  eat  and  drink, 
good  Indian  clothes  to  wear,  as  well  treated  as  any 
Indian  woman,  and,  so  far  as  he  could  see,  with  every- 
thing to  make  her  comfortable  and  happy;  and  here 
she  might  stay  if  she  chose.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
she  wished  to  go  to  New  Amsterdam,  she  would  find 
there  no  one  with  whom  she  was  acquainted,  except 
the  people  who  had  rowed  away  and  left  her  on  that 
desolate  coast,  and  who  might  have  come  in  search  of 
her  a  long  time  before  if  they  really  had  cared  any- 
thing about  her.  If  she  wanted  to  live  here  among 
friends  who  had  been  kind  to  her,  and  be  taken  care 
of,  she  could  do  so;  if  she  wanted  to  go  away  and 
live  among  people  who  had  deserted  her,  and  who 
appeared  to  have  forgotten  her,  she  could  do  that. 

Very  much  to  the  surprise  of  this,  good  Indian, 
Penelope  declared  that  she  should  prefer  to  go  and 
live  among  people  of  her  own  race  and  country ;  and 
so,  much  to  the  regret  of  her  Indian  friends,  she  de- 
parted for  New  Amsterdam  with  the  men  who  had 
come  for  her. 

A  year  or  two  after  Penelope  had  gone  back  to 
New  Amsterdam,  being  then  about  twenty-two,  she 
married  an  Englishman  named  Richard  Stout,  who 
afterwards  became  an  important  personage.  He,  with 
other  settlers,  went  over  to  New  Jersey  and  founded 
a  little  village,  which  was  called  Middletown,  not  far 
from  the  Indian  camp  where  Penelope  had  once  been 
a  prisoner.  The  Indians  still  remained  in  this  camp, 
but  now  they  appeared  to  be  quite  friendly  to  the 


63 

whites ;  and  the  new  settlers  did  not  consider  that 
there  was  anything  dangerous  in  having  these  red 
neighbors.  The  good  Indian  who  had  been  Penel- 
ope's protector,  now  quite  an  old  man,  was  very 
friendly  and  sociable,  and  often  used  to  visit  Mrs. 
Stout.  This  friendship  for  the  woman  whom  he  had 
saved  from  death  seemed  to  have  been  strong  and 
sincere. 

One  day  this  old  Indian  came  to  the  house  of  Mrs. 
Stout,  and,  seating  himself  in  the  room  where  she  was, 
remained  for  a  long  time  pensive  and  silent.  This 
rather  unusual  conduct  made  Penelope  fear  that  some- 
thing had  happened  to  him ;  and  she  questioned  him, 
asking  him  why  he  was  so  silent,  and  why  he  sighed 
so  often.  Then  the  old  man  spoke  out  and  told  her 
that  he  had  come  on  a  very  important  errand,  in  which 
he  had  risked  his  own  life  at  the  hands  of  his  tribe; 
but,  having  saved  her  life  once,  he  had  determined  to 
do  it  again,  no  matter  what  might  happen  to  himself. 

Then  he  told  her  that  the  good  will  of  the  Indians 
toward  their  white  neighbors  had  come  to  an  end,  and 
that  it  had  been  determined  in  council  that  an  attack 
should  be  made  that  night  upon  this  little  village, 
when  every  person  in  it  —  men,  women,  and  children 
—  should  be  put  to  death,  the  houses  burned,  and  the 
cattle  driven  away.  His  brethren  no  longer  wanted 
white  people  living  near  them. 

Of  course,  this  news  was  a  great  shock  to  Penelope. 
She  had  now  two  little  children,  and  she  could  not  get 
far  away  with  them  and  hide,  as  she  herself  had  once 
hidden  from  Indian  foes.  But  the  old  man  told  her 


64 

that  she  need  not  be  afraid :  he  could  not  save  all  the 
people  in  the  village,  but  he  was  her  friend,  and  he 
had  arranged  to  save  her  and  her  family.  At  a  cer- 
tain place,  which  he  described  so  she  could  not  fail 
to  find  it,  he  had  concealed  a  canoe ;  and  in  that  she 
and  her  husband,  with  the  children,  could  go  over  to 
New  Amsterdam,  and  there  would  be  plenty  of  time 
for  them  to  get  away  before  the  Indians  would  attack 
the  place.  Having  said  this,  and  having  urged  her  to 
lose  no  time  in  getting  away,  the  old  Indian  left. 

As  soon  as  he  had  gone,  Penelope  sent  for  her 
husband,  who  was  working  in  the  fields,  and  told  him 
what  she  had  heard,  urging  him  to  make  preparations 
instantly  to  escape  with  her.  But  Mr.  Stout  was  not 
easily  frightened  by  news  such  as  this.  He  pooh- 
poohed  the  whole  story,  and  told  his  wife  that  the 
natives  over  there  in  their  camp  were  as  well  dis- 
posed and  friendly  as  if  they  had  been  a  company 
of  white  settlers,  and  that,  as  these  red  men  and  the 
whites  had  lived  together  so  long,  trading  with  each 
other,  and  visiting  each  other  with  perfect  freedom, 
there  was  no  reason  whatever  to  suppose  that  the 
Indians  would  suddenly  determine  to  rise  up  and 
massacre  a  whole  settlement  of  peaceable  neighbors, 
who  had  never  done  them  any  harm,  and  who  were  a 
great  benefit  to  them  in  the  way  of  trading.  It  would 
be  all  nonsense,  he  said,  to  leave  their  homes,  and  run 
away  from  Indians  so  extremely  friendly  and  good- 
natured  as  those  in  the  neighboring  camp. 

But  Penelope  had  entirely  different  ideas  upon  the 
subject.  She  thoroughly  believed  in  the  old  Indian,  and 


65 

was  sure  that  he  would  not  have  come  and  told  her 
that  story  unless  it  had  been  true.  If  her  husband 
chose  to  stay  and  risk  his  life,  she  could  not  help  it; 
but  she  would  not  subject  herself  and  her  children  to 
the  terrible  danger  which 
threatened  them.  She 
had  begged  her  husband 
to  go  with  her;  but  as  he 
had  refused,  and  had  re- 
turned to  his  work,  she 
and  her  children  would 
escape  alone. 

Consequently  she  set 
out  with  the  little  ones, 
and  with  all  haste  pos- 
sible she  reached  the 
place  where  the  canoe 
was  moored  among  some 
tall  reeds,  and,  getting  in  with  the  children,  she  pad- 
dled away  to  New  Amsterdam,  hoping  she  might  reach 
there  in  time  to  send  assistance  to  Middletown  before 
the  Indians  should  attack  it. 

When  Farmer  Stout  found  that  his  wife  had  really 
gone  off,  and  had  taken  the  children  with  her,  he  be- 
gan to  consider  the  matter  seriously,  and  concluded  that 
perhaps  there  might  be  something  in  the  news  which 
the  old  Indian  had  brought.  He  consequently  called 
together  a  number  of  the  men  of  the  village,  and  they 
held  a  consultation,  in  which  it  was  determined  that  it 
would  be  a  wise  thing  to  prepare  themselves  against 
the  threatened  attack;  and,  arming  themselves  with  all 

STO.  OF  N.J. —  5 


66 

the  guns  and  pistols  they  could  get,  they  met  together 
in  one  of  the  houses,  which  was  well  adapted  for  that 
purpose,  and  prepared  to  watch  all  night. 

They  did  not  watch  in  vain,  for  about  midnight  they 
heard  from  the  woods  that  dreadful  war  whoop  which 
the  white  settlers  now  well  understood.  They  knew 
it  meant  the  same  thing  as  the  roar  of  the  lion,  who, 
after  silently  creeping  towards  his  intended  victim, 
suddenly  makes  the  rocks  echo  with  the  sound  of  his 
terrible  voice,  and  then  gives  his  fatal  spring. 

But  although  these  men  might  have  been  stricken 
with  terror,  had  they  heard  such  a  war  cry  at  a  time 
when  they  were  not  expecting  it,  and  from  Indians  to 
whom  they  were  strangers,  they  were  not  so  terrified 
at  the  coming  of  these  red  men  with  whom,  perhaps 
only  the  day  before,  they  had  been  trading  buttons 
for  venison  and  beans.  They  could  not  believe  that 
these  apparently  mild  and  easy-going  fellows  could 
really  be  the  terrible  savages  they  tried  to  make  them- 
selves appear. 

So  Richard  Stout  and  his  companions  went  boldly 
out,  guns  in  hand,  to  meet  the  oncoming  savages,  and, 
calling  a  parley,  they  declared  that  they  had  no  in- 
tention of  resting  quietly,  and  allowing  themselves  and 
families  to  be  slaughtered  and  their  houses  burned.  If 
the  Indians,  who  had  so  long  been  their  good  neigh- 
bors, were  now  determined  to  become  bloody  enemies, 
they  would  find  that  they  would  have  to  do  a  good 
deal  of  hard  fighting  before  they  could  destroy  the 
village  of  Middletown ;  and,  if  they  persisted  in  carry- 
ing on  the  bloody  job  they  had  undertaken,  a  good 


many  of  them  would  be  killed  before  that  job  was 
finished. 

Now,  it  had  been  very  seldom  that  Indians  who  had 
started  out  to  massacre  whites  had  met  with  people 
who  acted  like  this;  and  these  red  men  in  war  paint 
thought  it  wise  to  consider  what  had  been  said  to 
them.  A  few  of  them  may  have  had  guns,  but  the 
majority  were  armed  only  with  bows  and  tomahawks; 
and  these  white  men  had  guns  and  pistols,  with  plenty 
of  powder  and  ball.  It  would  clearly  be  unsafe  to  fight 
them. 

So,  after  discussing  the  matter  among  themselves 
and  afterwards  talking  it  over  with  the  whites,  the 
Indians  made  up  their  minds,  that,  instead  of  endeav- 
oring to  destroy  the  inhabitants  of  Middletown,  they 
would  shake  hands  with  them  and  make  a  treaty  of 
peace.  They  then  retired ;  and  on  the  following  day 
a  general  conference  was  held,  in  which  the  whites 
agreed  to  buy  the  lands  on  which  they  had  built  their 
town,  and  an  alliance  was  made  for  mutual  protection 
and  assistance.  This  compact  was  faithfully  observed 
as  long  as  there  were  any  Indians  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  Middletown  grew  and  flourished. 

Among  the  citizens  of  the  place  there  were  none 
who  grew  and  flourished  in  a  greater  degree  than  the 
Stout  family.  Although  Penelope  bore  upon  her  body 
the  scars  of  her  wounds  until  the  day  of  her  death, 
it  is  stated,  upon  good  authority,  that  she  lived  to  be 
one  hundred  and  ten  years  old ;  so  that  it  is  plain  that 
her  constitution  was  not  injured  by  the  sufferings  and 
hardships  of  the  beginning  of  her  life  in  New  Jersey. 


68 


Not  only  did  the  Stouts  flourish  in  Middletown,  but 
some  of  them  went  a  little  southward,  and  helped  to 
found  the  town  of  Hopewell ;  and  here  they  increased 
to  such  a  degree  that  one  of  the  early  historians  relates 
that  the  Baptist  Church  there  was  founded  by  the 
Stouts,  and  that  for  forty-one  years  the  religious  meet- 
ings were  held  in  the  houses  of  different  members  of 
the  Stout  family,  while,  at  the  time  he  wrote,  half  of 
the  congregation  of  the  church  were  still  Stouts,  and 
that,  all  in  all,  there  had  been  at  least  two  hundred 
members  of  that  name.  So  the  Baptist  Church  in 
Hopewell,  as  well  as  all  the  churches  in  Middletown, 
owed  a  great  deal  to  the  good  Indian  who  carried  poor 
Penelope  to  his  village,  and  cured  her  of  her  wounds. 


THE  SCHOOLMASTER  AND  THE  DOCTOR. 

OF  course,  it  was  not  long  after  New  Jersey  began 
to  be  settled  and  cultivated,  before  there  were 
a  great  many  boys  and  girls  who  also  needed  to  be 
cultivated.  And  if  we  are  to  judge  their  numbers  by 
the  families  of  Elizabeth,  who  started  for  the  New 
World  in  a  hogshead,  and  of  Penelope,  who  began 
her  life  here  in  a  hollow  tree,  there  must  have  been 
an  early  opportunity  for  the  establishment  of  flourish- 
ing schools ;  that  is,  so  far  as  numbers  of  scholars 
make  schools  flourishing. 

But  in  fact  it  does  not  appear  that  very  early  at- 
tention was  given  in  this  State  to  the  education  of 
the  young.  The  first  school  of  which  we  hear  was 
established  in  1664;  but  it  is  probable  that  the  first 
settlers  of  New  Jersey  were  not  allowed  to  grow  up 
to  be  over  forty  years  old  before  they  had  any  chance 
of  going  to  school,  and  it  is  likely  that  there  were  small 
schools  in  various  places  of  which  no  historical  mention 
is  made. 

It  is  admitted,  however,  by  the  historians  of  these 
early  days  of  New  Jersey,  that  education  was  not  at- 
tended to  as  it  should  have  been ;  and  we  read  that 
in  1693  an  act  was  passed  to  "establish  schoolmasters 

69 


70 

within  the  Province,  *  f or  the  cultivation  of  learning 
and  good  manners  for  the  good  and  benefit  of  man- 
kind, which  hath  hitherto  been  much  neglected  in  the 
Province.' " 

These  early  schools  were  not  of  a  very  high  order; 
the  books  used  by  younger  scholars  being  what  were 
called  hornbooks,  which  were  made  by  pasting  upon 
a  board  a  piece  of  paper  containing  the  alphabet  and 
some  lessons  in  spelling,  and  covering  the  whole  with 
a  very  thin  sheet  of  horn,  which  was  fastened  on  the 
board  as  glass  is  fastened  over  a  framed  picture. 
Thus  the  children  could  see  the  letters  and  words 
under  the  horn,  but  were  not  able  to  deface  or  tear 
the  paper.  It  was  difficult  to  get  books  in  those  days, 
and  a  hornbook  would  last  a  long  time. 

We  can  get  a  pretty  good  idea  of  the  character  of 
the  schools  from  an  account  given  of  the  establishment 
of  the  first  school  in  Newark,  where  the  town  authori- 
ties made  a  contract  "  with  Mr.  John  Catlin  to  instruct 
their  children  and  servants  in  as  much  English,  read- 
ing, writing,  and  arithmetic,  as  he  could  teach." 

But  the  people  of  New  Jersey  prospered  well,  and 
the  Colony  soon  became  noted  as  one  in  which  there 
was  comfort  and  good  living  ;  and  therefore  it  is  natural 
that  when  the  people  really  could  afford  to  apply  their 
time,  thought,  and  money  to  objects  higher  than  the 
tillage  of  farms  and  the  building  of  houses,  they  went 
to  work  earnestly  to  give  their  young  people  proper 
opportunities  for  education,  and  we  find  that  they  were 
inclined  to  do  this  as  earnestly  and  thoroughly  as  they 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  doing  other  things. 


In  consequence  of  this  disposition,  what  is  now 
Princeton  College  was  founded  in  1746.  This  institu- 
tion was  first  called  the  "  College  of  New  Jersey,"  and 
was  established  at  Elizabethtown.  It  was  in  its  early 
days  a  very  small  seat  of  learning ;  for,  when  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Dickinson  was  appointed  to  be  its  president,  the 
faculty  consisted  entirely  of  himself,  and  his  only  as- 
sistant was  an  usher.  There  were  then  about  twenty 
students  in  the  college. 

In  about  a  year  the  president  died ;  and  the  college 
was  then  removed  to  Newark,  where  the  Rev.  Aaron 
Burr,  the  father  of  the  celebrated  Aaron  Burr,  became 
its  president,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  faculty  was 
enlarged.  Ten  years  afterwards  the  college  was  es- 
tablished at  Princeton. 

The  manners  and  customs  of  the  college  .must  have 
been  very  primitive,  and  we  will  give  a  few  of  the 
rules  which  were  made  for  the  students :  "  Every 
scholar  shall  keep  his  hat  off  to  the  president  about 
ten  rods,  and  about  five  to  the  tutors.  When  walking 
with  a  superior,  they  shall  give  him  the  highest  place, 
and  when  first  going  into  his  company,  they  shall 
show  their  respects  to  him  by  first  pulling  off  their 
hats ;  shall  give  place  to  him  at  any  door  or  entrance ; 
or  meeting  him  going  up  and  down  stairs  shall  stop, 
giving  him  the  bannister  side ; "  and,  in  speaking  to 
a  superior,  "shall  always  give  a  direct  and  pertinent 
answer,  concluding  with  Sir."  Thus  it  is  seen  that 
attention  to  good  manners  was  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant branches  of  study  taught  at  the  young  col- 
lege. 


72 

But  in  certain  districts  of  New  Jersey,  people  seemed 
to  be  very  slow  in  perceiving  the  advantages  of  schools 
in  their  midst.  Schools  had  sprung  up  here  and  there 
in  towns  and  villages,  many  of  them  boarding  schools ; 
and  to  these  the  richer  farmers  would  send  their 
children.  But  it  took  people  in  some  rural  places  a 
good  while  to  find  out  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing 
to  have  a  school  in  their  midst. 

A  story  is  told  of  the  establishment  of  a  school  of 
this  kind  in  Deckertown  as  late  as  1833.  The  people 
of  this  village  had  never  thought  it  worth  while  to 
have  a  school  of  their  own;  and  even  after  a  gentle- 
man of  learning  and  ability,  who  was  well  known  in 
the  place,  offered  to  take  charge  of  such  a  school, 
they  did  not  look  with  any  favor  upon  the  enterprise. 
The  only* place  for  a  schoolhouse,  which  he  was  able 
to  obtain,  was  a  very  small  building,  consisting  of  one 
room,  and  situated  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town. 
Here  he  started  a  school  with  one  scholar;  and  even 
this  little  fellow  was  not  a  Jersey  boy,  but  came  from 
New  York. 

For  a  considerable  time  this  single  scholar  consti- 
tuted the  school,  and  he  and  the  schoolmaster  walked 
back  and  forth  from  the  village  to  the  little  cabin 
every  day ;  while  the  only  interest  that  the  towns- 
people seemed  to  take  in  them  was  shown  by  their 
laughing  at  the  schoolmaster,  and  comparing  him  to 
a  hen  with  one  chicken.  It  must  not  be  supposed 
that  it  was  because  the  citizens  did  not  believe  in 
education ;  but,  as  they  had  been  in  the  habit  of  send- 
ing their  children  away  to  school,  they  thought  that 


73 

that  was  the  proper  thing  to  do,  and,  as  there  never 
had  been  a  school  in  the  town,  they  saw  no  reason 
why  there  should  be  one  then.  But  the  school  in- 
creased, and  in  less  than  a  year  it  numbered  twenty 
scholars. 

There  is  a  rather  peculiar  story  told  of  this  school 
in  its  early  days.  It  had.  been  established  about 
two  months,  when  the 
schoolmaster  happened  - 
to  be  walking  in 
the  direction  of 
the  school  quite 
late  in  the  even- 
ing, and  to  his 
amazement  he  __' 
saw  that  the 
little  room  was  brilliantly 
lighted.  Now,  as  he  and 
his  scholar  had  left  it 
in  the  afternoon,  and  he 
had  locked  the  door,  he 
could  not  understand  the 

state  of  affairs.  Hurrying  to  the  house,  he  looked 
in  at  the  window,  and  saw  that  the  room  was  nearly 
filled  with  well-dressed  men,  who  were  standing  and 
sitting  around  a  table  on  which  were  spread  cards 
and  money.  He  saw  that  they  were  a  company  of 
gamblers ;  but  how  they  came  there,  and  why  they  came, 
he  could  not  imagine.  Of  course,  he  could  not  drive 
them  out ;  but,  after  watching  them  for  a  little  while, 
he  boldly  opened  the  door  and  went  in  among  them. 


74 

They  were  so  occupied  with  their  game,  however, 
that  they  paid  little  attention  to  him ;  and,  after  stand- 
ing with  them  for  a  time,  he  remarked  to  one  of 
them  that  he  hoped  that  when  they  had  finished 
their  game,  and  were  ready  to  go  away,  they  would 
leave  everything  behind  them  in  as  good  order  as 
they  had  found  it,  and  then  he  himself  departed  and 
went  home.  But  the  next  morning,  when  he  and  his 
scholar  came  to  the  schoolhouse,  he  found  every- 
thing as  they  had  left  it  on  the  afternoon  before ;  and 
this  schoolmaster  might  have  been  excused  if  he  had 
imagined  that  he  had  dreamed  that  he  saw  the  curious 
sight  of  a  company  of  gamblers  in  his  schoolhouse. 

But  he  found  out  afterwards  that  it  was  no  dream. 
There  was  a  set  of  men  gathered  together  from  the 
neighboring  country,  who  regularly  spent  certain  even- 
ings in  gambling  for  high  stakes.  They  had  dis- 
covered that  there  was  no  better  place  for  their 
meetings  than  the  little  schoolhouse,  which  was  ten- 
anted by  two  persons  in  the  daytime  and  by  nobody 
at  night;  and,  as  it  was  so  far  away  from  the  other 
houses,  it  was  a  very  convenient  place  %for  their 
secret  meetings,  and  they  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
assembling  there  almost  from  the  very  time  that  it 
was  cleaned  out  and  arranged  for  a  schoolhouse. 

When  the  schoolmaster  found  that  he  had  devoted 
his  energies  to  the  establishment  of  a  very  flourish- 
ing gambling  saloon,  when  he  supposed  that  he  had 
founded  nothing  but  a  weak  little  school,  he  took 
measures  to  prevent  any  further  visits  from  the  gen- 
tlemen with  the  cards  and  the  money.  After  that, 


75 

the  exercises  in  addition,  subtraction,  and  multiplica- 
tion, were  figured  out  with  a  pencil  or  chalk  instead 
of  being  done  by  means  of  spades  or  diamonds. 

In  those  early  days  the  doctor  was  almost  as  slow 
in  coming  to  the  front  as  was  the  schoolmaster. 

In  fact,  it  is  said  that  the  first  doctors  in  New 
Jersey  were  women,  and  that  the  people  placed  such 
faith  in  their  abilities,  that  unless  a  case  were  very 
serious  indeed,  so  that  a  physician  had  to  be  sent 
for  from  the  city,  they  were  perfectly  satisfied  with 
the  services  of  the  women  doctors.  It  is  also  stated, 
that  in  those  days  the  people  of  New  Jersey  were 
very  healthy.  These  two  statements  can  be  put  to- 
gether in  different  ways :  some  may  say,  that,  where 
people  were  so  seldom  sick,  doctors  of  great  ability 
were  not  needed ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  those 
who  have  a  higher  opinion  of  womankind  might  well 
believe,  that,  because  women  made  such  good  doctors, 
the  people  were  seldom  sick. 

It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  mothers, 
wives,  sisters,  and  daughters  of  the  people  of  this 
State,  were  formerly  looked  upon  as  of  more  impor- 
tance than  they  are  now ;  and  among  the  rights 
which  they  possessed  in  those  early  days,  but  of 
which  they  have  since  been  deprived,  was  the  right 
of  voting.  An  early  writer,  speaking  of  this  privilege, 
says,  "  The  New  Jersey  women,  however,  showed 
themselves  worthy  of  the  respect  of  their  countrymen 
by  generally  declining  to  avail  themselves  of  this 
preposterous  proof  of  it."  It  is  very  pleasant  for  us 
to  remember  that  New  Jersey  was  among  the  first  of 


76 

our  States  in  which  free  and  equal  rights  were  given 
to  all  citizens,  male  or  female,  if  they  chose  to  avail 
themselves  of  them. 

But  when  the  population  of  New  Jersey  so  in- 
creased that  it  became  plain  that  the  women  could 
not  be  physicians,  and  attend  at  the  same  time  to 
their  domestic  duties,  the  care  of  their  children,  and 
the  demands  of  society,  the  citizens  of  New  Jersey 
gave  as  earnest  and  thorough  attention  to  their  needs 
in  the  way  of  medicine  and  surgery  as  they  had 
given  to  their  needs  in  the  way  of  college  education ; 
and  the  first  State  Medical  Society  in  this  country 
was  founded  in  New  Jersey  in  the  year  1766. 

It  is  said  that  some  of  the  early  doctors  of  New 
Jersey  possessed  great  ability,  and,  although  there 
could  not  have  been  many  of  them  at  first,  they 
arranged  for  a  suitable  increase  in  their  society,  and 
nearly  every  one  of  them  had  one  or  more  students. 

A  medical  student  in  those  days  did  not  occupy 
the  same  position  that  he  holds  now.  In  fact,  he 
was  nothing  more  nor  less  than  an  apprentice  to  his 
master.  He  was  bound  to  the  doctor  by  a  regular 
indenture.  He  lived  in  his  family,  and,  when  he  was 
not  engaged  in  his  studies,  he  was  expected  to  make 
himself  useful  in  various  domestic  ways,  often  learn- 
ing the  use  of  the  saw  in  the  wood  yard. 

A  very  natural  consequence  of  this  domestic  fashion 
of  pursuing  their  studies  was,  that,  when  the  young 
doctor  started  out  to  establish  a  practice  for  himself, 
he  not  only  had  a  certificate  or  diploma  from  his 
master,  but  was  also  provided  with  a  wife,  for  mar- 


77 

riages  of  medical  students  with  the  daughters  of  their 
preceptors  were  very  common. 

What  further  outfit  was  furnished  a  student  setting 
out  in  practice  for  himself,  may  be  imagined  from 
the  conclusion  of  an  old  indenture  of  apprenticeship, 
which  states,  thai  when  Jacobus  Hubbard  shall  have 
fulfilled  his  apprenticeship  of  four  years  and  eight 
months,  —  during  which  he  has  well  and  faithfully 
served  his  master,  his  secrets  kept,  his  lawful  co.n- 
mands  gladly  everywhere  obeyed,  —  he  shall  be  pro- 
vided, when  he  goes  forth  as  doctor,  with  a  "  new  set 
of  surgeon's  'pocket  instruments,  Solomon's  Dispensa- 
tory, Quence's  Dispensatory,  and  Fuller  on  Fevers." 

It  is  probable  that  such  a  very  healthy  country  as 
New  Jersey  did  not  always  give  a  doctor  of  a  neigh- 
borhood sufficient  work  to  occupy  his  time,  and  there- 
fore the  early  physicians  used  to  combine  other  pro- 
fessions with  that  of  medicine  and  surgery.  Some 
were  lawyers,  others  clergymen,  and  many  were  farm- 
ers and  planters.  The  following  story  is  told  about 
the  Rev.  Jacob  Green,  "who  lived  in  Hanover,  and 
was  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  that  place. 
He  had  also  many  other  callings,  as  may  be  inferred 
from  a  letter  addressed  to  him  by  a  wag,  and  which 
was  said  not  to  exaggerate  the  truth :  — 


"<To  the  Rev.  Jacob  Green,  Preacher. 
«          «        "          "        Teacher. 
«          «        «          "       Doctor. 
«          «        «          "       Proctor. 
«          «         «  «        Miller. 

«         «        "          "       Distiller?" 


78 

The  necessity  for  this  variety  of  occupation  is 
shown  by  a  letter  from  a  gentleman  named  Charles 
Gordon,  living  near  Plainfield,  to  his  brother,  Dr. 
John  Gordon,  in  England,  in  which  he  says.  c(  If  you 
design  to  come  hither,  you  may  come  as  a  planter  or 
merchant;  but  as  a  doctor  of  medicine  I  cannot  ad- 
vise you,  for  I  hear  of  no  diseases  to  cure  but  some 
agues  and  some  cutted  legs  and  fingers."  Other 
physicians  gave  up  their  professions  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Revolution,  and  became  prominent  in  military 
matters. 

Dr.  John  Cochran,  one  of  the  first  New  Jersey 
physicians,  was  a  man  of  wide  experience  and  repu- 
tation. He  was  surgeon  in  the  British  hospital  dur- 
ing the  French  War,  and  afterward  practiced  medi- 
cine in  New  Brunswick.  During  the  Revolution,  he 
became  an  army  surgeon.  He  was  a  friend  of  Wash- 
ington, and,  in  fact,  was  quite  intimate  with  the  com- 
mander in  chief  of  the  American  forces.  It  is  said 
that  when  Washington  was  at  West  Point  in  1779, 
and  the  doctor  and  his  family  were  stationed  at  the 
same  place,  Washington  wrote  to  Dr.  Cochran  almost 
the  only  facetious  letter  which  is  known  to  have 
come  from  the  pen  of  that  grave  and  dignified  man. 

This  letter  informs  the  doctor  that  he  has  invited 
Mrs.  Cochran  and  Mrs.  Livingston  to  dine  with  him 
the  next  day,  and  says  that  the  table  is  large  enough 
for  the  ladies,  and  then  proceeds  to  tell  "how  it  is 
covered."  "  Since  our  arrival  at  this  happy  spot,  we 
have  had  a  ham,  sometimes  a  shoulder  of  bacon,  to 
grace  the  head  of  the  table;  a  piece  of  roast  beef 


79 

adorns  the  foot,  and  a  dish  of  beans  or  greens, 
almost  imperceptible,  decorates  the  center.  When 
the  cook  has  a  mind  to  cut  a  figure,  which  I  pre- 
sume will  be  the  case  to-morrow,  we  have  two  beef- 
steak pies,  or  dishes  of  crabs,  in  addition,  one  on 
each  side  of  the  center  dish,  dividing  the  space,  and 
reducing  the  distance  between  dish  and  dish  to  about 
six  feet,  which  without  them  would  be  twelve  feet 
apart.  Of  late,  he  has  had  the  surprising  sagacity 
to  discover  that  apples  will  make  pies,  and  it  is  a 
question  if  in  the  violence  of  his  efforts  we  do  not 
get  one  of  apples  instead  of  having  both  of  beef- 
steak. If  the  ladies  can  put  up  with  such  entertain- 
ment, and  will  submit  to  partake  of  it  on  plates  once 
tin,  now  iron  (not  become  so  by  scouring),  I  shall  be 
happy  to  see  them." 

The  fact  that  the  early  physicians  of  New  Jersey 
were  very  skillful,  and  patients  in  that  healthful  coun- 
try very  scarce,  seems  to  have  had  the  effect  or 
making  some  physicians  of  that  day  extremely  sharp 
about  business  matters.  A  certain  doctor  of  Rahway 
had  been  called  upon  to  visit  a  rich  man  who  was  in 
great  pain  and  distress.  The  doctor  having  adminis- 
tered some  medicine,  the  patient  very  speedily  recov- 
ered. Some  time  after  this,  the  doctor  determined  to 
leave  Rahway;  and  the  rich  man  who  had  been  at- 
tended by  him  with  such  gratifying  results  began  to 
be  afraid  that  he  might  be  taken  sick  again  in  the 
same  way.  So  he  went  to  the  doctor,  and  requested 
that  before  he  left,  he  would  give  him  the  prescription 
which  had  seemed  to  suit  his  case  so  admirably. 


8o 

Doctors  seldom  approve  of  their  patients  taking 
their  treatment  into  their  own  hands ;  but,  after  a  little 
consideration,  he  said  he  would  furnish  the  prescrip- 
tion, but  that  it  would  cost  ten  dollars.  This  quite 
astonished  the  rich  man,  and  at  first  he  refused  to 
pay  such  a  high  price ;  but,  after  considering  that  it 
might  save  him  many  visits  from  the  new  doctor  who 
should  come  to  Rahway,  he  agreed  to  pay  the  price 
demanded,  and  the  prescription  was  written,  and  de- 
livered to  him.  When  he  reached  his  home,  he 
thought  he  would  try  to  make  out  what  this  prescrip- 
tion was;  but  when  he  opened  the  paper,  he  found 
nothing  but  the  word  "catnip."  It  is  not  likely  that 
he  ever  again  tried  to  take  advantage  of  the  medical 
profession. 

But  it  was  not  always  Jersey  doctors  whose  wit 
shone  brightest  in  a  financial  transaction.  There  was 
a  doctor  in  the  town  of  Rocky  Hill  who  was  sent  for 
to  attend  a  poor  old  man  who  was  suffering  with  a 
piece  of  bone  sticking  in  his  throat.  The  doctor  went 
immediately  to  the  old  man's  house,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  the  bone  was  out.  As  the  doctor  was 
packing  up  his  instruments,  the  old  fellow,  whose 
name  was  William,  inquired  how  much  he  would 
have  to  pay ;  and  the  doctor  replied  that  for  an  oper- 
ation of  that  sort  his  charge  was  five  dollars.  This 
quite  astonished  William,  who  probably  had  not  five 
cents  in  the  house ;  but  he  wishpd  to  pay  his  debts, 
and  not  to  be  considered  a  pauper  patient,  and  so  he 
asked  the  doctor  if  he  might  come  to  his  house  and 
work  out  the  bill.  The  doctor  replied  that  that  would 


SI 


be  entirely  satisfactory  to  him.  and  that  William  might 
come  the  next  day  and  work  in  the  garden. 

The  next  day  old  William  went  to  the  doctor's 
house.  All  day  he  faithfully  dug  and  hoed  and 
raked.  Toward  the  end  of  the  afternoon  the  doctor 
came  into  the  garden,  and,  after  informing  William 
that  he  might  come  again,  he  casually  asked  him 
how  much  he  charged  for  a  day's  work.  William 
stood  up  and  promptly  answered,  that  for  a  day's 
labor  in  the  garden  his  charge  was  five  dollars.  Now 
was  the  doctor  surprised. 

"  You  don't  mean,"  he  exclaimed,  "  that  you  are 
going  to  ask  five  dollars  for  one  day's  labor ! " 

"That   is    exactly    my   price,"    said    William. 
"  If    two   minutes'   yanking  with    a   pair   of 
pincers  at  a  little  bone  is  worth  five  dol- 
lars,  then   one  day's    hard    labor  in 
tilling   the  ground  is  worth  just  as 
much." 

It  often  happens  that  t 
doctors  are  men  of  wit  and 
humor;  and  it  is  recorded 
that  a  New  Jersey  physi- 
cian, named  Dr.  Hole,  was 
the  author  of  the  first  ver- 
sion of  a  tombstone  epitaph 
which  afterwards  became 
widely  known  and  used. 
The  lines  of  Dr.  Hole  are 
cut  upon  a  tombstone  of  a 
child,  and  run  as  follows :  — 
STO.  OF  N  j.  —  6 


82 

"A  dropsy  sore  long  time  I  bore: 

Forsitions  were  in  vain 
Till  God  above  did  hear  my  moan, 
And  eased  me  of  my  pain.'1 

4 

That  some  of  those  early  doctors  were  honest  is 
proved  by  a  doctor's  bill  which  is  now  preserved  in 
the  New  Jersey  Historical  Society.  At  the  end  of 
this  bill,  after  all  the  different  items  of  service  and 
medicine  had  been  charged  upon  it,  there  is  this 
entry :  "  Contrary  credit  by  Medsons  brought  back." 
It  would  be  difficult  now  to  find  a  doctor  in  New 
Jersey,  or  anywhere  else,  who  would  be  willing  to 
take  back,  and  allow  credit  for,  all  partly  filled  bottles 
of  medicine,  and  boxes  of  pills,  the  contents  of  which 
had  been  ordered,  but  not  entirely  used. 


THE    SLAVES/ OF  NEW    JERSEY. 


WE    have    so    long    looked 
upon     New    Jersey    as 


prominent  among  what  were 
called  the  "free  States"  of 
the  Union,  that  it  now 
seems  strange  when  we 
consider,  that  among  the 
first  of  the  institutions 
established  upon  its  soil  by 
the  early  settlers,  was  the 
system  of  slavery.  This  was  the  case  not 
only  in  New  Jersey,  but  in  all  the  Amer- 
ican Colonies.  The  settlers  of  New  England,  as 
well  as  those  of  the  Southern  Colonies,  used  negro 
slaves  as  laborers  on  their  farms ;  and  the  trade  in 
native  Africans  was  a  very  important  branch  of  in- 
dustry. 

The  Duke  of  York,  to  whom  his  brother,  Charles  II., 

83 


84 

had  made  a  grant  of  extensive  American  possessions, 
was  at  the  head  of  the  African  Company,  formed 
for  the  purpose  of  bringing  slaves  from  Africa,  and 
selling  them.  The  Dutch  were  then  the  great  rivals 
of  the  English  in  this  trade ;  and  the  Duke  of 
York  was  very  glad  to  possess  New  Jersey  and  the 
rest  of  his  grant,  for  then  he  could  not  only  oust 
the  Dutch  from  the  territory,  but  could  possess 
himself  of  this  very  desirable  and  profitable  slave 
market. 

But  it  was  not  only  the  English  and  Dutch  who 
brought  negro  slaves  to  America,  for  it  is  stated  that 
the  earliest  Swedish  settlers  brought  slaves  with  them 
as  laborers.  So  we  may  say  that  slavery  and  free- 
dom were  planted  together  in  this  country  of  ours; 
one  to  be  pulled  up  afterward  like  a  weed,  the  other 
to  be  left  to  grow  and  flourish. 

When  Berkeley  and  Carteret  acquired  authority 
over  New  Jersey,  they  did  everything  that  they  could 
to  induce  settlers  to  come  to  the  new  country ;  and, 
as  they  were  anxious  to  have  the  lands  opened  up 
and  cultivated  as  rapidly  as  possible,  they  encouraged 
immigrants  to  bring  as  many  slaves  as  they  could 
afford.  They  offered  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  to 
every  one  who  would  settle,  and  another  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  acres  for  every  full-grown  able-bodied 
male  slave,  and  seventy-five  acres  each  for  those  not 
grown  up.  Afterwards,  when  slaves  became  more 
numerous,  the  bounties  given  on  their  account  were 
diminished,  and  in  course  of  time  they  ceased  alto- 
gether. 


A  great  many  slaves  must  have  been  brought  direct 
from  Africa  to  New  Jersey,  for  at  Perth  Amboy 
there  was  established  what  was  then  called  a  bar- 
racks ;  and  in  this,  negroes  who  had 
been  brought  in  the  slave  ships 
were  confined  until  they  were  sold 
and  sent  out  into  the  country. 

Not  only  were  there  negro  slaves 
in  the  State,  but  there  were  also 
Indians  who  had  been  enslaved,  and 
were  regularly  sold  and  bought. 
How  these  red  men  happened  to  be 
slaves,  we  do  not  certainly  know ; 
but  we  may  be  very  sure  that  the 
whites  did  not  make  war  upon  In- 
dian tribes,  and  capture  prisoners, 
for  the  purpose  of  making  slaves  of 
them.  It  is  far  more  likely,  that, 
when  one  tribe  of  Indians  made 
war  upon  another,  the  conquerors 
found  it  a  very  profitable  thing 
to  sell  their  prisoners  to  the  whites, 
reason  to  suppose,  however,  that  the  natives  made 
war  on  purpose  to  capture  and  sell  their  fellow- 
countrymen,  as  was  the  case  in  Africa. 

The  early  records,  however,  prove  that  there  were 
Indian  slaves.  When  the  House  of  Representatives 
for  the  Province  met  at  Burlington  in  1704,  an  act 
was  brought  before  that  body  for  the  regulating  of 
Indian  and  negro  slaves. 

Negroes   were    then    considered    to   be    such   legiti- 


There   is   no 


86 

mate  articles  of  merchandise,  that  English  sovereigns 
thought  it  very  necessary  to  see  to  it  that  their  loyal 
settlers  were  sufficiently  supplied  with  slaves,  and  at 
prices  not  too  high.  When  Queen  Anne  sent  out 
Lord  Cornbury  as  governor  of  the  Province,  she 
recommended  the  Royal  African  Company  to  the 
especial  attention  of  the  governor,  that  New  Jersey 
might  have  a  constant  and  sufficient  supply  of  mer- 
chantable negroes  at  moderate  rates  in  money  or 
commodities.  In  consequence  of  the  fostering  care 
of  the  Proprietors  and  the  English  sovereigns,  slaves 
rapidly  increased  in  New  Jersey. 

The  English  themselves  were  not  at  all  averse  to 
the  ownership  of  a  good  serviceable  slave;  and  about 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  young  gentle- 
man in  England  wrote  to  his  father  in  New  Jersey, 
begging  that  he  might  "  be  favored  with  a  young 
negro  boy  to  present  to  the  brother  of  the  then 
Duke  of  Grafton,  to  whom  he  was  under  obliga- 
tions, as  'a  present  of  that  kind  would  be  very  accept- 
able.'" 

Of  course,  the  existence  of  slavery  made  the  state 
of  society  in  New  Jersey  and  the  other  Colonies 
very  different  from  what  it  is  now ;  and  this  differ- 
ence is  strongly  shown  by  the  advertisements  of  run- 
away negroes,  which  we  can  find  in  some  old  news- 
papers. It  seems  very  strange  to  see  in  a  Boston 
paper  of  one  hundred  years  ago  a  picture  of  a 
black  man  running  away  with  a  bag  over  his  shoul- 
der, and  under  the  picture  the  statement  of  the  re- 
ward which  would  be  given  for  his  capture;  and  in 


87 

the  New  Jersey  papers  there  were  frequent  adver- 
tisements of  runaway  slaves  and  of  negroes  for  sale. 
One  of  these,  published  in  Burlington  two  years  after 
the  Colony  had  declared  itself  free  and  independent, 
reads  as  follows :  — 

"To  BE  SOLD — For  no  fault  —  but  a  saucy  tongue  for  which 
he  is  now  in  Burlington  jail  —  A  negro  man  about  39  years  of 
age.  He  is  a  compleat  farmer,  honest  and  sober.  For  further 
particulars  enquire  of  the  subscriber  in  Evesham,  Burlington  Co. 
Feb.  4,  1778." 

When  Washington  was  in  Morristown  in  1777,  one 
of  his  aids  wrote  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  Elizabeth- 
town,  which  states,  — 

The  General  will  esteem  it  as  a  singular  favor  if  you  can  appre- 
hend a  mulatto  girl,  servant  and  slave  of  Mrs.  Washington,  who 
eloped  from  this  place  yesterday,  with  what  design  cannot  be  con- 
jectured, though  as  she  may  intend  to  the  enemy  and  pass  your  way 
I  trouble  you  with  the  description  :  her  name  is  Charlotte  but  in  all 
probability  will  change  it,  yet  may  be  discovered  by  question.  She 
is  light  complected,  about  thirteen  years  of  age,  pert,  dressed  in 
brown  cloth  wescoat  and  petticoat.  Your  falling  upon  some  method 
of  recovering  her  should  she  be  near  you  will  accommodate  Mrs. 
Washington  and  lay  her  under  great  obligations  to  you  being  the 
only  female  servant  she  brought  from  home  and  intending  to  be 
off  to-day  had  she  not  been  missing.  A  gentle  reward  will  be  given 
to  anv  soldier  or  other  who  shall  take  her  up. 

I  am  with  respect  your  most  obedient  servant 


After  a  time,  negro  slaves  became  so  plentiful  in 
New  Jersey,  that  laws  were  passed  restricting  their 
importation,  and  a  considerable  tax  was  laid  upon  each 
African  brought  into  the  country. 


88 

But  the  negroes  were  not  the  only  slaves  in  New 
Jersey  during  those  early  days.  Here,  as  well  as  in 
many  of  the  other  Colonies,  was  a  class  of  white  peo- 
ple, generally  from  England,  who  were  called  "re- 
demptioners."  These  were  poor  people,  although  often 
persons  of  fairly  good  station  and  education,  who  de- 
sired to  emigrate  to  America,  but  who  could  not  afford 
to  pay  their  passage. 

A  regular  system  was  then  established,  by  which  a 
poor  person  desiring  to  settle  in  New  Jersey  would 
be  brought  over  free.  When  one  of  these  emigrants 
took  passage  on  a  ship,  he  signed  a  contract  which 
gave  the  captain  of  the  vessel  the  right  to  sell  him,  as 
soon  as  he  arrived  in  America,  for  enough  money  to 
pay  his  passage.  This  white  man  was  thus  bought, 
when  he  reached  New  Jersey,  exactly  as  if  he  had  been 
a  negro  slave;  and  he  was  subject  to  the  same  rules  as 
those  which  governed  other  slaves.  Of  course,  he  was 
made  the  subject  of  great  imposition ;  for  the  captain 
would  naturally  desire  to  get  as  large  a  sum  of  money 
as  possible  for  each  redemptioner,  and  therefore  would 
be  perfectly  willing  to  sell  him  for  a  long  term. 

The  people  who  owned  redemptioners  could  sell 
them  again  if  they  chose ;  and  it  often  happened  that 
some  of  them  passed  into  the  possession  of  several 
families  before  they  finally  served  out  the  term  for 
which  they  had  been  sold.  All  sorts  of  people  be- 
came redemptioners, — mechanics,  laborers,  and  even 
professional  men.  Among  the  people  who  sold  them- 
selves into  limited  slavery  there  were  schoolmasters, 
and  it  is  stated  that  at  one  time  the  supply  of  redemp- 


89 

tioner   schoolmasters   was  so  great  that  they  became 
a  drug  in  the  market. 

In  the  days  before  there  were  many  regular  schools 
in  New  Jersey,  much  of  the  education  must  have  been 
carried  on  by  what  we  now  call  private  tutors;  and  a 
schoolmaster  who  could  be  bought  as  if  he  had  been 


a  horse  or  a  cow  was  often  a  very  convenient  piece 
of  property.  If  a  family  should  own  a  teacher  who 
was  able  only  to  instruct  small  children,  it  would  be 
very  easy,  when  these  children  grew  older  and  able  to 
undertake  more  advanced  studies,  to  sell  this  primary 
teacher  to  some  family  where  there  were  young  pupils, 
and  buy  one  capable  of  teaching  higher  branches. 
It  is  said  that  these  redemptioners  were  often  treated 


90 

much  more  harshly  and  cruelly  than  the  negro  slaves, 
and  any  one  who  assisted  one  of  them  to  escape  was 
severely  punished.  There  was  good  reason  for  this 
difference  in  the  treatment  of  the  two  classes  of  slaves ; 
for  a  negro  was  the  property  of  his  master  as  long 
as  he  lived,  and  it  was  manifestly  the  interest  of  the 
owner  to  keep  his  slave  in  good  condition.  But  the 
redemptioner  could  only  be  held  for  a  certain  time, 
and,  if  his  master  was  not  a  good  man,  he  would  be 
apt  to  get  out  of  him  all  the  work  that  he  could  during 
the  time  of  his  service,  and  to  give  him  no  more  food 
or  clothing  than  was  absolutely  necessary. 

After  a  time  there  were  laws  made  to  protect  the 
redemptioners.  One  of  these  was,  that  any  person 
sold  after  he  was  seventeen  years  old  could  not  serve 
for  more  than  four  years ;  and  another  provided,  that, 
when  a  redemptioner's  time  of  service  had  expired,  his 
master  should  give  him  "two  good  suits  of  clothing, 
suitable  for  a  servant,  one  good  ax,  one  good  hoe, 
and  seven  bushels  of  Indian  corn." 

But  although  the  redemptioner  sometimes  fared  very 
badly  in  the  new  country,  it  often  happened  that  he 
came  out  very  well  in  the  end.  Among  the  white 
people  who  came  here  as  slaves  there  were  often  con- 
victs and  paupers ;  but  even  some  of  these  succeeded 
in  bettering  their  condition  and  establishing  themselves 
as  good  citizens,  and  in  founding  families. 

It  often  happened  that  some  of  the  Germans  who 
came  to  buy  land  and  settle,  chose  rather  to  put  away 
their  money,  and  sell  themselves  as  redemptioners  to 
English  families,  so  that  they  might  learn  the  English 


91 

language  and  manner  of  living.  Then,  when  they  had 
educated  themselves  in  this  practical  manner,  and  their 
time  of  service  was  over,  they  could  buy  land,  and 
establish  themselves  on  terms  of  equality  with  their 
English  neighbors. 

But  the  trade  in  redemptioners  gradually  decreased ; 
and  by  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  there 
were  not  many  of  them  left  in  New  Jersey,  although 
there  were  a  few  in  the  State  until  after  the  Revolu- 
tion. Negro  slavery,  however,  continued  much  longer. 
It  grew  and  flourished  until  it  became  a  part  of  the 
New  Jersey  social  system ;  but  it  must  not  be  sup- 
posed that  all  the  people  of  the  State  continued  to 
be  satisfied  with  this  condition  of  things. 

At  first  everybody  who  could  afford  it  owned  slaves, 
and  the  Friends  or  Quakers  bought  negroes  the  same 
as  other  people  did;  but  about  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  some  of  these  Quakers  began  to  think 
that  property  in  human  beings  was  not  a  righteous 
thing,  and  the  Quakers  of  New  Jersey  united  with 
those  of  Pennsylvania  in  an  agreement  recommend- 
ing to  the  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends  that 
they  should  no  longer  employ  negro  slaves,  or,  if  they 
thought  it  best  to  continue  to  do  this,  that  they  should 
at  least  cease  to  import  them. 

A  strong  party  among  the  Quakers  of  New  Jersey 
opposed  slavery  for  many  years,  and  the  system  was 
denounced  at  some  of  their  yearly  meetings;  and  this 
went  on  until  about  the  middle  of  the  next  century, 
when  a  law  was  made  that  no  person  owning  slaves 
should  continue  in  the  Society  of  Friends. 


92 

As  years  passed  on,  people  other  than  Quakers 
began  to  consider  slavery  an  injustice  and  an  evil; 
and  this  feeling  gradually  increased,  until  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  nineteenth  century  it  became  very 
strong,  and  in  1820  an  act  was  passed  by  the  Legis 
lature  for  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves.  They  were 
not  set  free  all  at  once,  and  turned  into  the  world  to 
take  care  of  themselves ;  but  a  system  of  gradual 
emancipation  was  adopted,  by  which  the  young  people 
obtained  their  freedom  when  they  came  of  age,  while 
the  masters  were  obliged  to  take  care  of  the  old  negroes 
as  long  as  they  lived.  By  this  plan,  slavery  was  very 
gradually  abolished  in  New  Jersey,  so  that  in  1840 
there  were  still  six  hundred  and  seventy-four  slaves 
in  the  State;,  and  even  in  1860  eighteen  slaves  re- 
mained, and  these  must  have  been  very  old. 


A   JERSEY    TEA    PARTY. 

AT  the  time  when  the  American  colonists  began 
to  be  restless  under  the  rule  of  Great  Britain, 
the  people  of  New  Jersey  showed  as  strong  a  desire 
for  independence  as  those  of  any  other  Colony,  and 
they  were  by  no  means  backward  in  submitting  to 
any  privations  which  might  be  necessary  in  order  to 
assert  their  principles.  As  has  been  said  before,  the 
people  were  prosperous,  and  accustomed  to  good  living, 
and  it  was  not  likely  that  there  was  any  part  of 
America  in  which  a  cup  of  well-flavored  tea  was  better 
appreciated  than  in  New  Jersey. 

But  when  the  other  colonists  determined  to  resist 
unjust  taxation,  and  resolved  that  they  would  not  use 
tea,  on  which  a  heavy  tax  was  laid  without  allowing 
the  American  people  to  have  anything  to  say  about 
it,  the  patriotic  people  of  New  Jersey  resolved  that 
they  too  would  use  no  tea  so  long  as  this  unjust  tax 
was  placed  upon  it.  When  the  tea  was  destroyed  in 
Boston  Harbor,  the  Jersey  patriots  applauded  the  act, 
and  would  have  been  glad  to  show  in  the  same  way 
what  they  thought  upon  the  subject. 

But  when  tea  was  shipped  from  England,  it  was 
sent  to  the  great  ports  of  Boston,  New  York,  Phila- 

93 


94 

delphia,  and  Charleston;  and  what  was  used  in  New 
Jersey  came  from  these  places  after  the  consignees 
had  paid  the  tax.  However,  to  show  their  sympathy 
with  the  efforts  which  were  being  made  at  the  sea- 
ports to  prevent  the  landing  of  tea,  the  New  Jersey 
people,  that  is,  those  who  belonged  to  the  Whig  party, 
—  which  was  the  patriotic  party,  and  opposed  to  the 
Tories,  who  favored  England,  —  formed  an  associa- 
tion, the  members  of  which  bound  themselves  to  buy 
or  use  no  tea  until  the  tax  should  be  removed. 

There  is  a  story  told  of  Hugh  Drum  of  Somerset 
County,  who  was  so  thoroughly  in  earnest  on  this 
subject,  and  who  probably  supposed  that  the  weak 
little  Colonies  would  always  have  to  submit  to  the 
power  of  Great  Britain,  that  he  took  an  oath  that 
never  again  during  the  rest  of  his  life  would  he  take 
a  cup  of  tea ;  and  although  he  lived  a  great  many 
years  afterward,  during  which  the  Americans  im- 
ported their  own  tea  without  regard  to  what  any 
other  country  thought  about  it,  Mr.  Drum  never 
again  drank  tea. 

But  at  last  an  opportunity  came  for  patriotic  Jer- 
seymen  to  show  that  they  were  not  behind  the  other 
colonists  in  resisting  the  attempt  of  Great  Britain  to 
force  upon  them  this  taxed  tea. 

Nearly  a  year  after  the  tea  had  been  thrown  over- 
board in  Boston  Harbor,  a  vessel  from  England  — 
loaded  with  tea,  and  bound  to  Philadelphia  —  put  into 
Cohansey  Creek,  a  small  stream  which  runs  into  Dela- 
ware Bay,  and  anchored  at  the  little  town  of  Greenwich. 
This  vessel,  called  the  "Greyhound,"  was  afraid  to  go 


95 

up  to  Philadelphia,  because  from  that  port  tea  ships 
were  sent  back  to  England  as  soon  as  they  arrived, 
as  was  also  the  case  in  New  York.  So  the  captain 
of  the  "  Greyhound  "  thought  it  would  be  a  good  plan 
to  land  his  tea  at  Greenwich,  from  which  place  it 
could  be  taken  inland  to  its  destination.  Here  the 
cargo  was  unloaded,  and  stored  in  the  cellar  of  a 
house  opposite  the  open  market  place. 

This  business  of  forcing  tea  upon  the  American 
colonists  had  become  a  very  serious  matter  to  Eng- 
land ;  for  the  East  India  Company  had  now  in  their 
warehouses  at  London  seventeen  million  pounds  of 
tea,  and,  if  there  should  be  no  sale  for  any  of  this 
in  the  American  market,  the  loss  would  be  very  severe. 
Consequently  every  possible  method  was  resorted  to, 
in  order  to  have  the  tea  landed  on  American  soil ;  it 
being  believed,  that,  if  the  tea  once  got  into  the  hands 
of  the  dealers,  the  people  would  overcome  their  preju- 
dices to  its  importation,  and  begin  to  use  it  again. 

Therefore' the  captain  of  the  "Greyhound"  thought 
he  was  doing  a  very  sharp  thing  when  he  sailed  up 
Cohansey  Creek  and  unloaded  his  tea.  That  cargo 
was  landed,  and  in  those  days  an  English  captain  of 
a  tea  ship  might  well  be  proud  of  having  performed 
such  a  feat. 

But  it  is  not  likely  that  the  captain  of  the  "Grey- 
hound "  had  ever  before  sailed  into  a  port  of  New 
Jersey,  large  or  small,  or  had  anything  to  do  with 
Jerseymen ;  for  if  he  had,  he  would  not  have  been 
so  well  satisfied  with  the  result  of  the  voyage. 

The    people   of   Greenwich   could    not   prevent   the 


96 

landing  of  the  tea,  for  there  was  no  organized  force 
at  the  place,  nor  could  they  order  the  "Greyhound"  to 
turn  round  and  go  back  to  England;  but  they  would 
not  allow  their  town  to  be  made  use  of  as  a  port  of 
entry  for  this  obnoxious  merchandise,  simply  because 
it  was  a  little  town,  and  could  not  keep  English  ships 
out  of  its  waters.  A  meeting  of  the  patriotic  citizens 
was  held,  and  it  was  resolved  that  no  tea  should  go 
out  of  Greenwich  to  comfort  the  bodies  and  contami- 
nate the  principles  of  people  in  any  part  of  the  Colo- 
nies ;  and  they  would  show  their  British  tyrants  that 
it  was  just  as  unsafe  to  send  tea  into  Cohansey 
Creek  as  it  was  to  send  it  into  the  harbor  of  Bos- 
ton. 

Having  come  to  this  determination,  they  went  im- 
mediately to  work.  A  party  of  young  men,  about 
forty  in  number,  was  organized ;  and  in  order  to  dis- 
guise themselves,  or  strike  terror  into  anybody  who 
might  be  inclined  to  oppose  their  undertaking,  they 
were  all  dressed  as  Indians.  They  assembled  in  the 
market  place,  and  then,  making  a  rush  to  the  house 
in  which  the  tea  was  stored,  they  broke  open  the 
doors,  carried  out  the  tea,  split  open  the  boxes  in 
which  it  was  contained,  and  made  a  great  pile  of  it 
in  an  open  space  near  by. 

When  tea  is  dry  and  in  good  condition,  it  will  burn 
very  well,  and  it  was  not  many  minutes  before  there 
was  a  magnificent  bonfire  near  the  market  place  in 
Greenwich ;  and  in  all  that  town  there  was  not  one 
man  who  dared  to  attempt  to  put  it  out.  Thus  the 
cargo  of  the  "Greyhound"  went  up  in  smoke  to  the 


97 

sky.  It  must  have  been  a  very  hard  thing  for  the 
good  ladies  of  the  town  to  sit  in  their  houses  and 
sniff  the  delightful  odor,  which  recalled  to  their 
minds  the  cherished  beverage,  of  which,  perhaps, 
they  might  never  again  partake.  But  they  were  Jer- 
seywomen,  of  stout  hearts  and  firm  principles,  and 
there  is  no  record  that  any  one  of  them  uttered  a 
word  of  complaint. 

But  in  every  community  there  is  at  least  one  per- 
son in  whose  mind  there  is  a  little  streak  of  the 
Ananias  nature,  and  there  was  a  man  of  that  kind 
in  Greenwich.  His  name  was  Stacks,  and  he  was  a 
great  lover  of  tea;  moreover,  he  had  a  soul  disposed 
to  economy  and  thrift.  Consequently  it  was  very 
hard  for  him  to  stand  by  and  see  all  that  tea  wasted; 
and  he  thought  it  would  be  no  harm  —  as  he  was 
not  a  merchant,  and  did  not  intend  to  exercise  evil 
influences  upon  the  people  of  America  by  inducing 
them  to  buy  tea  —  if  he  appropriated  to  himself  a 
little  of  this  most  desirable  herb,  which  was  to  be 
burned  and  wasted  before  his  very  eyes. 

Whenever  he  had  a  chance,  he  slipped  a  little  tea 
into  some  part  of  his  clothes  where  he  thought  it 
would  not  be  noticed,  and  so  gradually  loaded  himself 
with  a  considerable  stock  of  the  herb.  In  fact,  he 
stowed  away  so  many  handfuls  of  it,  that,  when  the 
fire  was  over,  his  companions  noticed  that  he  had  con- 
siderably increased  in  size ;  and  it  was  not  long  before 
his  trick  was  discovered.  We  do  not  hear  that  he 
was  compelled  to  empty  out  the  tea,  but  we  are  told 
that  ever  after  he  went  by  the  name  of  "Tea  Stacks." 

tTO-  OF  N.T.  —  7 


98 


X 


-  v. 


This  tea  bonfire  created  a  great  stir,  and    although 
the   patriotic   party   approved   it,  there   were   a   great 

many  Tories  in  the  country  who 
condemned    it    as    a    piece    of 
outrageous  violence  and  wanton 
waste.    This  latter  opinion  was 
so  freely   expressed,    that  the 
English    owners   of    the  cargo 
were  encouraged  to  take  legal 
steps  against  the  men  who  de- 
x     stroyed  the  tea.     It  was  easy 
enough  to  do  this ;  for  the  young 
fellows  who  had  made  the  bon- 
fire   were    very    proud    of    what 
they    had  done,   and,   instead    of 
denying  their  connection  with  the 
burning  of   the  tea,  were  always 
very  ready  to  boast  of  it. 

When  it  was  understood  that 
the  tea  burners  were  to  be  prose- 
cuted, all  the  Whigs  of  the  surrounding 
country  determined  to  stand  by  them ;  and 
they  subscribed  a  large  sum  of  money 
to  engage  lawyers  to  defend  their  case. 
The  strength  of  the  popular  feeling 
was  shown  by  the  fact,  that,  when  the 
case  was  brought  to  court,  the  grand 
jury  positively  refused  to  bring  a  bill 
against  these  young  men,  although  the  judge  insisted 
that  they  should  do  so.  The  matter  was  thus  post- 
poned; and  as  it  was  not  long  before  the  Colonies 


Tea  Stacks. 


99 

broke  out  into  open  rebellion,  and  a  period  followed 
when  Englishmen  no  longer  brought  suits  in  American 
courts,  there  was  no  further  action  in  regard  to  the 
tea  burning  at  Greenwich. 

Therefore,  unless  Mr.  Stacks  contrived  to  keep  some 
of  the  tea  which  he  carried  off  in  his  clothes,  the 
good  people  of  the  neighborhood,  if  they  drank  tea 
at  all,  made  it  of  the  dried  leaves  of  raspberries,  or 
those  of  some  other  bush,  which  have  something  of 
a  tea  taste,  and  were  thus  enabled  to  have  a  hot 
beverage  with  their  evening  meal,  with  but  a  little 
strain  upon  their  imaginations,  and  none  at  all  on  their 
consciences. 

In  other  neighborhoods,  however,  there  were  people 
who,  although  they  were  patriots  and  inclined  to  sup- 
port the  cause  of  American  liberty,  could  not  see  how 
such  a  little  thing  as  drinking  a  cup  of  tea,  if  they 
happened  to  have  it,  could  interfere  with  their  regard 
and  respect  for  the  great  principle  of  justice  and 
independence. 

Of  course,  it  was  to  be  supposed  that  the  Tories, 
who  were  opposed  to  this  nonsense  about  independ- 
ence, were  glad  to  buy  tea  and  to  drink  it  whenever 
they  got  the  chance ;  but  it  was  expected  that  those 
who  called  themselves  Whigs  and  patriots  would 
stand  by  their  party,  and  discountenance  tea  drinking. 
There  is  a  story  told  of  a  man  who  lived  in  Bridge- 
town, who  was  a  member  of  one  of  the  Committees 
of  Safety  which  were  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
promoting  the  cause  of  American  liberty.  It  was 
found  out  that  this  man  and  his  family  were  in  the 


100 

habit  of  drinking  East  India  tea ;  and  when  his  fellow- 
committeemen  asked  him  in  regard  to  this  matter,  he 
boldly  admitted  that  they  all  liked  tea,  that  they  drank 
tea,  and  that  they  intended  to  drink  tea. 

This  was  a  very  serious  matter,  and  the  committee 
saw  that  it  was  necessary  to  take  vigorous  measures 
in  regard  to  this  peculiar  case.  At  first  they  tried 
the  force  of  argument;  but  all  they  could  say  to  the 
man  amounted  to  nothing.  He  had  principles,  and 
what  he  considered  very  good  principles ;  but  he  liked 
tea,  and,  having  it  in  the  house,  he  saw  no  harm  in 
drinking  it.  So  the  teapot  was  on  his  table  every  day. 

Now,  his  fellow-committeemen  held  another  meeting, 
and  formally  resolved  that  this  unpatriotic  patriot 
should  be  punished  in  a  way  which  would  make  a 
powerful  impression  on  him,  and  which  would  show 
the  whole  community  how  the  Committee  of  Safety 
intended  to  stand  firm  in  the  position  they  had  taken 
in  resisting  unjust  legislation.  It  was  resolved,  that, 
so  long  as  he  and  his  family  drank  tea,  the  patriots 
of  the  neighborhood  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
him,  they  would  not  deal  with  him,  nor  would  they 
associate  with  him  or  his.  This  was  an  early  instance 
in  America  of  what  is  known  now  as  "boycotting." 

It  was  a  very  hard  thing  to  be  shut  out  from  all 
dealing  and  connection  with  his  friends  and  fellow- 
citizens,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  tea  drinker 
made  up  his  mind  that  the  society  and  friendship  of 
his  neighbors  was  better  even  than  the  highest  flavored 
cup  of  tea ;  and  so  he  formally  acknowledged  his  error, 
begged  the  pardon  of  the  commilkv,  and  promised  that 


IOI 

thereafter  he  would  act  in  ac^Qctfance :  with  their  .rules 
and  regulations ;  and  his  family  teapot  was  put  away 
upon  a  high  top  shelf. 

But  the  time  came,  in  a  very  few  years,  when  the 
American  people  attended  to  their  own  taxation,  and 
when  this  teapot,  with  all  the  others  in  the  country, 
could  be  taken  down  and  freely  used  without  interfer- 
ence with  law  or  conscience. 


THE   STORY   OF   A   SPY. 

WHEN  a  nation  goes  to  war  with  another,  it  is 
often  necessary  for  the  armies  on  each  side 
to  leave  behind  some  of  the  high  and  noble  princi- 
ples which  may  have  governed  them  at  home.  Of 
course,  war  is  bloody  and  cruel,  and  it  almost  always 
happens  that  the  officers  and  soldiers  are  obliged  to 
descend  also  to  meanness  and  duplicity  in  order  to 
succeed  in  their  campaigns. 

One  strong  reason  for  this  is  the  necessity  for  the 
employment  of  spies.  It  is  always  desirable  for  the 
commander  of  an  army  to  know  as  far  as  possible 
the  condition  of  the  enemy's  force,  and  what  he  is 
doing  or  intends  to  do.  Consequently  it  is  a  com- 
mon thing  to  send  spies  into  the  enemy's  ranks;  and 
the  better  those  spies  can  deceive  the  soldiers  of  the 
other  side,  the  more  valuable  will  be  their  report,  if  they 
are  fortunate  enough  to  get  back  into  their  own  camp. 

Sometimes  a  spy  will  sneak  into  the  enemy's  lines, 
and  make  his  observations  in  concealment  and  safety ; 
but  the  most  valuable  spies  are  those  which  enter  an 
enemy's  camp  pretending  sympathy  and  friendship.  A 
man  who  can  do  this  well  can  find  out  a  great  deal. 

In    every   army    a   spy    from    the    other    side    is    re- 

102 


103 

garded  as  the  worst  of  enemies,  and  if  captured,  his 
punishment  is  death.  An  impartial  outsider  might 
object  to  this  severity,  when  it  is  considered  that  the 
army  which  punishes  the  spy  may,  at  the  same  time, 
have  spies  of  its  own  among  the  enemy.  During 
the  Revolution,  Major  Andre"  was  executed  because 
he  came  into  the  American  lines  as  a  spy,  and  at 
the  same  time  General  Washington  was  very  glad  to 
get  a  good  spy  to  send  into  a  British  camp. 

There  was  a  man  named  John  Honeyman,  who 
acted  with  great  success  in  this  capacity  on  the 
patriotic  side  during  the  Revolution.  Honeyman  was 
a  Scotch-Irishman,  and  was  said  to  be  a  remarkably 
fine  looking  man.  He  was  tall,  strong,  extremely 
active,  and  had  a  fine  military  bearing.  He  had  no 
desire  to  become  a  soldier ;  but  he  was  forced  into 
the  British  army,  and  came  to  this  country  in  1758, 
when  General  Amherst  came  over  to  attack  the  French 
in  Canada.  Young  General  Wolfe,  who  was  after- 
wards to  win  fame  at  Quebec,  was  one  of  the  officers 
in  Amherst's  army,  and  on  the  ship  in  which  he  sailed 
was  John  Honeyman. 

Military  men  are  not  as  sure-footed  as  sailors  on 
board  a  ship,  which  may  be  rolling  and  tossing  on 
rough  waters ;  and  one  day,  as  General  Wolfe  was 
coming  into  the  cabin,  he  tripped  and  fell  when  he 
was  halfway  down  the  companion  way,  and  would 
probably  have  broken  his  neck,  if  it  had  not  been 
that  Honeyman  happened  to  be  at  the  bottom  of  the 
steps,  and  caught  the  general  in  his  arms,  thus  saving 
him  from  injury. 


104 

It  is  very  satisfactory  for  a  full-grown  man,  espe- 
cially one  whose  profession  exposes  him  to  accidents 
of  various  kinds,  to  be  able  to  take  into  his  service 
another  man  who  is  tall  enough  and  strong  enough 
to  pick  him  up  and  carry  him  if  it  is  necessary,  and 
who  is  also  quick-witted  enough  to  know  when  he 
should  interpose  himself  in  case  of  danger. 

Honeyman's  conduct  on  this  occasion  made  an  im- 
pression on  General  Wolfe ;  and  when  afterwards  he 
was  given  chief  command,  he  took  the  tall  soldier  into 
his  bodyguard,  and  made  him  understand  that,  in 
times  when  danger  might  be  apprehended,  he  was  to 
be  as  near  him  as  his  duties  would  permit. 

Once  during  the  siege  of  Quebec,  Honeyman  was 
one  of  the  men  who  helped  row  the  boat  which 
carried  Wolfe  over  the  river;  and  during  this  pas- 
sage a  cannon  ball  from  the  enemy  struck  an  officer 
sitting  very  near  Honeyman,  and  took  off  his  head. 
Had  this  happened  to  Honeyman,  it  would  have  been 
a  bad  thing  for  New  Jersey. 

When  the  final  attack  was  made,  Honeyman  climbed 
the  Heights  of  Abraham  side  by  side  with  his  brave 
commander;  and  when,  in  the  battle  which  followed, 
Wolfe  was  killed,  it  was  Honeyman  who  bore  him 
off  the  field.  Thus  the  first  and  the  last  service 
which  this  strong  man  rendered  to  his  military  chief 
were  very  much,  the  same. 

About  a  year  after  this  the  war  ended,  and  Honey- 
man received  an  honorable  dischnr-v.  He  carried 
with  him  the  good  will  and  commendation  of  his  offi- 
cers, but  he  also  took  something  which  he  valued 


IDS 

more  than  these.  While  he  was  with  General  Wolfe, 
that  officer  had  given  him  letters  expressing  his  good 
opinion  of  him,  and  these  afterwards  proved  of  great 
service. 

Honey  man  went  southward,  and  lived  for  some 
years  in  the  American  Colonies.  He  finally  settled 
in  Philadelphia,  where  he  married.  When  the  Revo- 
lution broke  out,  his  sympathies  were  entirely  with 
the  American  side,  but  he  did  not  immediately  enlist 
in  the  American  army.  When  Washington  came  to 
Philadelphia,  Honeyman  was  very  anxious  to  see 
him  and  consult  with  him.  .  It  was  difficult  for  a 
man  in  the  ordinary  walks  of  life  to  obtain  an  inter- 
view with  the  commander  in  chief ;  but  Honeyman 
sent  in  the  letters  which  General  Wolfe  had  given 
him,  and,  after  having  read  these,  Washington  was 
very  ready  to  see  the  man  of  whom  that  general 
had  such  a  high  opinion.  Washington  soon  dis- 
covered that  Honeyman  was  a  man  of  peculiar 
ability,  and  he  had  several  interviews  with  him, 
although  it  is  not  known  what  was  said  at  these 
times. 

Before  very  long,  Honeyman  took  his  family  to 
Griggstown,  in  Somerset  County,  New  Jersey,  and 
there  he  hired  a  house  and  settled.  From  this  place 
he  went  to  Fort  Lee,  when  Washington  came  into 
New  Jersey  with  his  army,  and  had  an  interview  with 
the  general ;  and  here,  it  is  said,  he  made  a  regular 
contract  with  the  commander  in  chief  to  become  a  spy 
on  the  American  side. 

There  were  a  good  many  Tories  in  the  State,  and, 


io6 

as  Honeyman  had  once  been  a  British  soldier,  it  was 
easy  enough  for  him  to  make  believe  that  he  was  a 
Tory,  and  so  make  friends  with  the  Redcoats  when  he 
should  have  an  opportunity. 

The  plan  concocted  between  Washington  and  Honey, 
man  was  very  carefully  worked  out  in  all  its  details. 
Honeyman  was  to  let  it  be  known  that  he  was  a  Tory, 
and  as  soon  as  he  thought  it  proper  he  was  to  leave 
his  family  and  join  the  British.  It  was  considered 
that  the  best  thing  he  could  do  would  be  to  engage 
in  business  as  a  butcher,  and  then,  when  he  went 
over  to  the  British,  he  could  go  about  the  country 
in  search  of  cattle,  and  thus  get  a  good  idea  of  what 
was  going  on. 

He  was  to  stay  with  the  enemy  until  he  discovered 
something  important,  and  then  he  was  to  arrange  mat- 
ters so  that  he  should,  apparently  without  knowing  it, 
wander  near  the  American  lines,  where  he  would  be 
captured.  It  is  said  that  Washington  arranged,  that, 
as  soon  as  he  should  hear  that  Honeyman  had  gone 
over  to  the  enemy,  he  would  offer  a  reward  for  his 
arrest ;  but  this  reward  would  be  paid  only  in  case  the 
supposed  traitor  should  be  carried  alive  and  unhurt 
to  him.  All  this  planning  was  necessary,  because  there 
was  so  much  communication  between  the  Tories  and 
Whigs  at  that  time,  that,  if  it  had  been  known  on  the 
American  side  that  Honeyman  had  gone  over  as  a 
spy,  the  fact  would  soon  have  been  communicated  to 
the  British. 

Honeyman  went  over  to  the  enemy,  and  started  busi- 
ness as  a  butcher  for  the  army,  and,  after  having  gone 


a  good  deal  about  the  country  looking  for  cattle,  he 
came  to  New  Brunswick  with  the  British  army.  No- 
body had  suspected  that  he  was  not  a  perfectly  honest 
Tory,  and  he  had  been  paying  great  attention  to  the 
condition  of  the  British  army,  and  to  finding  out  every- 
thing which  might  be  of  use  if  reported  to  Washing- 
ton. Among  other  things,  he  discovered  that  the 
British  forces  then  occupying  Trenton  were  not  under 
a  strict  state  of  discipline.  It  was  winter ;  the  weather 
was  cold ;  apparently  there  was  not  much  for  them  to 
do ;  and  discipline  was  in  a  rather  lax  state.  Honeyman 
well  understood  the  habits  of  the  Redcoats,  and  he 
knew  that  during  the  holidays  the  soldiers  would  live 
in  even  a  more  free  and  easy  manner  than  they  were 
living  then. 

Not  only  did  he  make  himself  well  acquainted  with 
the  condition  of  the  army,  but  he  carefully  studied 
the  town  of  Trenton  and  its  neighborhood,  and,  going 
about  in  every  direction  after  cows  and  oxen,  he  learned 
the  roads  so  well  that  he  could  make  a  very  good  map 
of  them.  Everything  that  could  be  of  service  to  the 
American  cause  was  jotted  down  in  Honeyman's  re- 
tentive memory ;  and  when  he  had  found  out  every- 
thing that  he  could  find  out,  he  thought  it  was  fully 
time  that  he  should  acquaint  Washington  with  the  state 
of  affairs  in  the  enemy's  lines. 

He  knew  that  there  were  American  pickets  on  the 
Jersey  side,  some  distance  away ;  and  he  started  out 
in  this  direction  as  a  greasy  butcher,  with  a  rope  in 
one  hand  and  a  long  whip  in  the  other,  looking  for 
all  the  world  like  John  Honeyman  the  Tory  cattle- 


io8 


man,  who,  if  he  knew  what  was  good  for  him,  would 
better  keep  out  of  sight  of  the  soldiers  of  the  Amer- 
ican army.  He  walked  a  long  distance  down  the  river, 
and,  though  he  may  have  seen  cattle,  he  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  them.  His  present  object  was  not  to  capture 
anything  and  take  it  /~\  away,  but  to  be  captured 
and  taken  away.  I  J  After  a  time  he  saw  at  a 
distance  what  he  had  \J  been  looking  for.  Behind 

some  bushes, 
but  still  quite 
plain  to  the  eye 
of  this  prac- 
ticed soldier, 
were  two  cav- 
alrymen dis- 
mounted, and 
Honeyman 
knew  that  they 
were  Ameri- 
cans. He  con- 
tinued to  walk 
towards  them 
until  he  came 
close  to  the  spot  where  the  two  soldiers  were  standing. 

The  moment  their  eyes  fell  upon  him,  they  recog- 
nized him,  and  shouted  to  him  to  halt;  but  Honey- 
man was  too  good  an  actor  to  do  that.  If  he  wished 
to  carry  on  the  business  in  hand,  he  must  keep  up 
his  character  as  a  Tory,  and  so  he  took  to  his  long 
legs  and  ran  like  a  deer.  But  the  men  jumped  on 
their  horses  and  were  after  him  in  a  moment ;  and  as 


109 

horses'  legs  are  a  good  deal  better  than  human  legs, 
no  matter  how  long  they  may  be,  the  flying  butcher 
was  soon  overtaken.  But  even  then  he  did  not  sur- 
render, but  so  laid  about  him  with  his  whip  that  he 
kept  the  two  men  at  bay.  Of  course,  if  they  had 
not  known  him,  they  would  have  shot  him  down ;  but 
as  Washington  had  issued  a  proclamation  concerning 
him,  and  had  especially  insisted  that  he  should  be 
brought  in  alive,  they  did  not  wish  to  injure  him. 
But  the  unequal  fight  did  not  continue  long,  and 
Honeyman  was  soon  captured.  The  soldiers  bound 
his  arms,  and,  mounting  him  behind  one  of  them,  so 
carried  him  across  the  river  to  Washington's  camp. 

When  Honeyman  was  brought  into  the  presence 
of  the  commander  in  chief,  he  pretended  to  be  very 
much  frightened ;  and  he  would  have  been  excusable 
if  he  had  been  really  frightened,  for  in  that  little 
performance  of  his  he  had  run  a  great  many  risks. 
After  asking  a  few  questions  of  this  pretended  traitor 
Washington  told  the  guards  to  withdraw,  and  he  had 
a  private  conference  which  lasted  over  half  an  hour; 
and  in  that  time  it  is  probable  that  these  two  men 
did  a  great  deal  of  talking.  The  information  given 
was  most  valuable,  and  such  as  could  have  been  fur- 
nished only  by  a  man  of  extraordinary  powers  of 
observation. 

When  he  had  kept  Honeyman  as  long  as  was 
necessary,  Washington  called  the  guards,  and  told 
them  to  take  the  prisoner  to  a  log  cabin  which  was 
used  as  a  military  jail,  and  there  to  watch  him  care- 
fully during  the  night,  and  in  the  morning  he  would 


no 

be  tried  by  court-martial.  Honey  man  was  taken  to 
the  prison,  which  had  but  one  window  and  one  door, 
and  supper  was  given  to  him.  He  was  locked  in, 
and  two  sentinels  went  on  guard  outside  the  walls  of 
the  log  house. 

In  the  middle  of  the  night  these  men  saw  a  fire 
burning  not  far  from  headquarters,  and,  fearing  that 
it  might  prove  dangerous  to  allow  it  to  burn,  they 
thought  it  their  duty  to  run  and  put  it  out.  This 
they  did,  and  returned  to  the  log  house,  where  every- 
thing looked  the  same  as  they  had  left  it.  But  in 
the  morning,  when  they  opened  the  door,  there  was 
no  prisoner  inside. 

It  is  said  that  the  whole  plan  of  this  escape,  prob- 
ably by  means  of  the  window,  was  arranged  by 
Washington  himself,  but  of  this  we  are  not  certain. 
We  know,  however,  that  Washington  looked  upon 
Honeyman  as  one  of  the  most  valuable  men  in  the 
employ  of  the  army,  and  that  he  would  take  every 
means  to  prevent  him  from  coming  to  harm  on  ac- 
count of  this  service. 

It  was  in  consequence  of  the  information  that 
Honeyman,  at  the  cost  of  such  great  risk  and  danger, 
had  brought  to  Washington,  that  three  days  afterwards 
the  Americans  crossed  the  Delaware,  attacked  Tren- 
ton, routed  the  British,  and  thus  gained  one  of  the 
greatest  and  most  important  victories  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. If  it  had  been  John  Honeyman,  instead  of  the 
British  officer,  who  was  struck  by  a  cannon  ball 
crossing  the  St.  Lawrence,  it  is  likely  that  Washing- 
ton  would  not  have  dared  to  attack  the  British  army 


Ill 

in  Trenton,  which,  before  his  half  hour's  conversation 
with  his  spy,  was  believed  to  be  entirely  too  strong 
to  be  meddled  with  by  the  Continental  soldiers  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river. 

•But  the  report  which  Honeyman  had  made  to 
Washington  was  not  the  only  service  which  he  did 
to  the  American  cause.  Having  left  his  peace  prin- 
ciples at  home,  as  he  was  bound  to  do  if  he  wanted 
to  act  as  a  truly  serviceable  spy,  he  had  more  work 
before  him.  As  soon  as  he  got  out  of  the  log  house, 
he  ran  from  the  camp,  and,  although  he  was  fired  at 
by  a  sentinel,  he  got  safely  away.  He  crossed  the 
river  on  the  ice  whenever  there  was  any,  and  when 
he  came  to  open  water,  he  jumped  in  and  swam,  and 
so  he  got  safely  over  into  the  British  lines. 

There,  wet  and  shivering,  he  demanded  to  be  taken 
to  the  commander;  and  to  him  he  told  the  dreadful 
story  of  how  he  had  been  captured  by  the  American 
soldiers  while  he  was  looking  for  beef  cattle,  and 
how  he  had  been  taken  to  headquarters,  questioned, 
and  afterwards  shut  up  in  prison,  to  be  shot  in  the 
morning,  and  how  he  had  quietly  escaped  and  come 
back  to  his  friends.  Colonel  Rahl,  who  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  British,  was  delighted  to  get  hold  of 
this  Tory  butcher  who  had  been  taken  prisoner  by 
the  Continentals,  and  he  put  him  through  a  course 
of  examination  about  the  condition  of  the  enemy. 

Of  course,  it  was  to  the  benefit  of  the  Americans 
that  the  British  should  think  their  army  as  small  and 
as  weak  as  possible ;  and  so  Honeyman  gave  an 
account  of  the  wretched  condition  of  the  American 


112 


soldiers,  —  how  few  they  were,  how  badly  they  were 
armed,  how  miserably  they  were  officered,  and  how 
they  were  half  starved  and  discouraged.  He  told 
this  story  so  well,  that  he  made  the  colonel  laugh, 
and  declare  that  there  was  no  reason  to  apprehend 
any  danger  from  such  a  pack  of  ragamuffins  as 
x-i.  were  collected  together  under  Washington,  and 
that,  if  anybody  wished  to  keep 
Christmas  in  a  jolly  way  in 
his  camp,  there  was  no  rea- 
son why  he  should  not  do  so. 
When  Honeyman  had 
finished  telling  his  tales, 
one  to  one  army  and  an- 
other to  the  other,  he 
knew  that  it  would 
be  better  for  him  to 
get  out  of  the  neigh- 
borhood. He  was 
quite  sure  that  Wash- 
ington would  take  Trenton, 
and,  if  he  should  be  found  in 
that  city  when  it  was  captured,  it 
might  be  hard  for  even  the  commander  in  chief  to 
prevent  him  from  being  shot.  So  he  hastened  away 
to  take  refuge  with  the  British  in  New  Brunswick. 

Honeyman  had  made  himself  so  conspicuous  in 
that  part  of  the  country  as  a  Tory  who  was  working 
as  hard  as  he  could  for  the  benefit  of  the  British  by 
supplying  them  with  beef,  that  all  news  about  him 
was  received  with  great  interest.  It  was  not  long 


H3 

before  this  story  of  how  he  had  been  captured  by 
the  American  pickets,  and  afterwards  escaped  from 
the  log  prison,  became  generally  known ;  and  the 
people  of  Griggstown,  where  his  wife  and  family 
lived,  were  greatly  excited,  believing  that  Honeyman 
had  come  there,  and  had  concealed  himself  in  his 
house.  A  mob  collected  in  the  neighborhood  late 
one  night,  surrounded  the  house,  and  woke  up  the 
family  with  shouts  and  banging  on  the  door.  Mrs. 
Honeyman  appeared,  nearly  frightened  to  death;  and 
some  of  the  ringleaders  told  her  that  they  knew 
that  her  Tory  husband  had  come  back,  and  was  con- 
cealed inside ;  and  they  vowed,  that,  if  he  did  not 
come  out  and  deliver  himself  up,  they  would  burn 
the  house  and  everything  in  it. 

She  declared  that  he  was  not  there,  and  that  it 
had  been  a  long  time  since  she  had  seen  him.  But 
this  was  of  no  use.  They  persisted  that  he  was 
inside,  and  that,  if  he  did  not  come  out  very  quickly, 
they  would  set  fire  to  the  house.  It  was  of  no  use 
to  reason  with  an  excited  mob,  and,  although  Mrs. 
Honeyman  said  that  they  might  come  in  and  search 
the  house  for  her  husband,  they  would  not  listen  to 
her.  Perhaps  one  reason  of  this  was,  that  Honeyman 
was  a  dangerous  man  to  look  for,  inside  of  his  own 
house  and  in  dark  rooms.  Mrs.  Honeyman  saw  that 
she  must  act  quickly,  or  her  home  would  be  lost  to  her. 

She  ran  inside,  and  soon  appeared  with  a  paper, 
which  she  gave  to  a  man  in  the  crowd  with  whom 
she  was  acquainted,  and  asked  him  to  read  it  so  that 
every  one  could  hear. 

STO.  OF  N.J.  —  8 


114 

It  was  not  to  be  supposed  that  Mrs.  Honeyman 
possessed  a  private  riot  act,  which  might  be  read  in 
order  to  disperse  a  disorderly  assembly ;  but  even  the 
most  disorderly  people  are  generally  possessed  of 
great  curiosity  in  regard  to  anything  out  of  the  com- 
mon, and  they  consented  to  put  off  the  bonfire  a  few 
minutes,  and  hear  what  was  to  be  read.  What  the 
angry  crowd  heard  was  as  follows :  — 

AMERICAN  CAMP,  NEW  JERSEY,  1776. 

To  the  good  people  of  New  Jersey,  and  all  others  whom  it  may 
concern :  It  is  hereby  ordered  that  the  wife  and  children  of  John 
Honeyman  of  Griggstown,  the  notorious  Tory,  now  within  the 
British  lines  and  probably  acting  the  part  of  a  spy,  shall  be,  and 
are  hereby  protected  from  all  harm  and  annoyance  from  every 
quarter  until  further  orders.  But  this  furnishes  no  protection  to 
Honeyman  himself. 

GEO.  WASHINGTON, 

Com. -in-Chief. 

This  paper,  which  it  is  said  Washington  not  only 
signed,  but  wrote  with  his  own  hand,  had  been  given 
to  Honeyman  some  time  before,  and  he  sent  it  to 
his  wife  in  order  that  it  might  protect  her  in  case 
of  danger  such  as  now  threatened  her.  It  was 
thought  very  likely  that  the  people  of  Griggstown 
would  become  so  incensed  against  the  Tory  butcher, 
that  they  might  offer  harm  to  his  wife  and  family ; 
and  Washington  was,  no  doubt,  glad  to  give  what 
protection  he  could  to  the  home  of  the  man  who, 
no  matter  how  much  he  might  have  deceived  other 
people,  was  always  true  to  him  and  to  the  American 
cause. 


H5 

When  the  crowd  heard  the  communication  from  the 
commander  in  chief  of  the  American  army,  ordering 
them  to  refrain  from  violence  to  Mrs.  Honeyman  and 
her  family,  they  could  not  understand  why  it  had  been 
written ;  but  they  understood  very  well  what  it  com- 
manded, and  so,  grumbling  a  good  deal,  but  not  dar- 
ing to  disobey,  they  dispersed,  and  left  the  wife  of 
the  spy  in  peace. 

This  paper,  of  course,  was  cherished  as  a  great  prize 
by  the  Honeyman  family,  and  remained  in  their  pos- 
session for  many  years;  and  it  was  indeed  an  heir- 
loom worth  preserving.  But,  although  it  proved  a 
safeguard  for  Mrs.  Honeyman,  it  did  not  remove  the 
prejudices  against  her  husband,  and  for  a  long  time 
after  that  it  would  have  been  a  very  unwise  thing  for 
Tory  Honeyman  to  come  to  Griggstown.  Of  course, 
it  would  have  been  an  easy  thing  for  Washington  to 
have  publicly  exonerated  Honeyman  from  all  charges 
of  treason  and  Toryism,  but  this  would  not  have  served 
his  purpose.  There  was  still  need  of  a  competent  spy 
in  the  British  lines;  and  there  Honeyman  remained 
during  the  rest  of  the  war,  always  ready  to  give 
information  to  the  commander  whenever  he  could 
obtain  it. 

When  peace  was  proclaimed,  Washington  did  not 
forget  Honeyman,  and  he  himself  told  the  story  of 
how  this  brave  man  became  a  Tory  butcher  for  the 
sake  of  American  independence,  and  of  the  great 
services  he  had  rendered  to  the  cause.  Then,  of 
course,  Honeyman  went  home  to  his  wife  and  family, 
and  the  people  of  Griggstown  received  him  as  if  he 


116 

had  been  a  great  hero.  And  in  fact,  looking  at  the 
matter  from  a  war  point  of  view,  he  deserved  all 
the  honors  they  could  give  him,  for  without  his  aid 
the  battle  of  Trenton  could  never  have  been  wort ;  and 
in  fact  he  was  more  useful  in  that  engagement  than  if 
he  had  been  a  regiment  of  soldiers. 

Honeyman  was  no  doubt  a  great  'man  in  Griggs- 
town.  The  people  who  had  once  threatened  to  burn 
down  his  house  could  not  do  enough  for  him.  Those 
who  once  would  not  speak  to  his  wife  when  they  met 
her,  now  implored  her  to  let  them  know  what  they 
could  do  for  her,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  popu- 
larity of  the  family  increased  to  a  wonderful  degree. 

Several  officers  of  rank  who  had  heard  of  what 
Honeyman  had  done,  came  to  see  and  talk  with  him ; 
and,  more  than  that,  Washington  himself  came  to 
Griggstown,  and  paid  a  visit  to  his  former  spy.  Such 
an  honor  was  enough  to  make  the  once  denounced 
Tory  butcher  the  leading  citizen  of  the  town.  Honey- 
man now  became  a  prosperous  man,  and  bought  a 
large  farm  and  reared  a  family  of  seven  children,  who 
grew  up  and  prospered ;  and  their  descendants  are  now 
scattered  all  over  the  State.  He  himself  lived  to  the 
good  old  age  of  ninety-five,  and  died  respected  and 
honored  by  all,  —  never  thought  of  as  a  spy,  but  only 
as  a  patriotic  hero. 

It  would  appear,  from  the  stories  of  those  early 
days,  that  whenever  a  man  or  woman  acted  a  good 
part,  and  was  truly  of  service  to  New  Jersey,  he  or 
she  always  lived  to  be  very  old,  and  left  behind  a 
vast  number  of  descendants. 


A   MAN   WHO   COVETED   WASHINGTON'S 
SHOES. 

THE  person  whose  story  we  are  now  about  to  tell 
was  not  a  Jerseyman ;  but,  as  most  of  the  inci- 
dents which  make  him  interesting  to  us  occurred  in 
this  State,  we  will  give  him  the  benefit  of  a  few 
years'  residence  here. 

This  was  General  Charles  Lee,  who  might  well 
have  been  called  a  soldier  of  fortune.  He  was  born 
in  England,  but  the  British  Isles  were  entirely  too 
small  to  satisfy  his  wild  ambitions  and  his  roving 
disposition.  There  are  few  heroes  of  romance  who 
have  had  such  a  wide  and  varied  experience,  and  who 
have  engaged  in  so  many  strange  enterprises.  He 
was  a  brave  man  and  very  able,  but  he  had  a  fault 
which  prevented  him  from  being  a  high-class  soldier; 
and  that  fault  was,  that  he  could  not  bear  restraint, 
and  was  always  restive  under  command  of  another,  and, 
while  always  ready  to  tell  other  people  what  they 
ought  to  do,  was  never  willing  to  be  told  what  he 
ought  to  do. 

He  joined  the  British  army  when  he  was  a  young 
man;  and  he  first  came  to  this  country  in  1757,  when 
General  Abercrombie  brought  over  an  army  to  fight 

117 


u8 


the  French.  For  three  years,  Lee  was  engaged  in  the 
wilds  and  forests,  doing  battle  with  the  Indians  and 
the  French,  and  no  doubt  he  had  all  the  adventures 
an  ordinary  person  would  desire.  But  this  experience 
was  far  from  satisfactory. 

When  he  left  America,  he  went  to  Portugal  with 
another  British  army,  and  there  he  fought  the  Span- 
ish with  as  much  impetuosity  as  he  had  fought  the 

French  and  Indians. 

Life   was  absolutely  taste- 
less   to    Lee    without    a 
^gff^f    very  strong  sprinkle 
of     variety.      Conse- 
quently   he    now    tried 
fighting  in  an  entirely 
different  field,  and  went 
into    politics.     He   be- 
came a  Liberal,  and  with 
his    voice    fought    the 
government  for  whom 
he  had  been   previously 
fighting  with  his  sword. 

But  a  few  years  of  this  satisfied  him;  and  then  he 
went  to  Poland,  where  he  became  a  member  of  the 
king's  staff,  and  as  a  Polish  officer  disported  himself 
for  two  years. 

It  is  very  likely  that  in  Turkey  a  high-spirited  man 
would  find  more  opportunities  for  lively  adventure 
than  even  in  Poland.  At  any  rate,  Charles  Lee 
thought  so;  and  to  Turkey  he  went,  and  entered  into 
the  service  of  the  Sultan.  Here  he  distinguished 


himself  in  a  company  of  Turks  who  were  guarding  a 
great  treasure  in  its  transportation  from  Moldavia  to 
Constantinople.  No,  doubt  he  wore  a  turban  and  baggy 
trousers,  and  carried  a  great  scimiter,  for  a  man  of 
that  sort  is  not  likely  to  do  things  by  halves  when  he 
does  them  at  all. 

Having  had  such  peculiar  experiences  in  various 
armies  and  various  parts  of  the  world,  Lee  thought 
himself  qualified  to  occupy  a  position  of  rank  in  the 
British  army,  and,  coming  back  to  England,  he  en- 
deavored to  obtain  military  promotion.  But  the  gov- 
ernment there  did  not  seem  to  think  he  had  learned 
enough  in  Poland  and  Turkey  to  enable  him  to  take 
precedence  of  English  officers  accustomed  to  command 
English  troops,  and  it  declined  to  put  him  above  such 
officers,  and  to  give  him  the  place  he  desired.  Lee  was 
not  a  man  of  mild  temper.  He  became  very  angry  at 
the  treatment  he  received,  and,  abandoning  his  native 
country  again,  he  went  to  Russia,  where  the  Czar 
gave  him  the  command  of  a  company  of  wild  Cossacks. 
But  he  did  not  remain  long  with  the  Cossacks.  Per- 
haps they  were  not  wild  and  daring  enough  to  suit  his 
fancy,  although  there  are  very  few  fancies  which  would 
not  be  satisfied  with  the  reckless  and  furious  demeanor 
generally  attributed  to  these  savage  horsemen. 

He  threw  up  his  command  and  went  to  Hungary, 
and  there  he  did  some  fighting  in  an  entirely  differ- 
ent fashion.  Not  having  any  opportunity  to  distinguish 
himself  upon  a  battlefield,  he  engaged  in  a  duel;  and 
of  course,  as  he  was  acting  the  part  of  a  hero  of 
romance,  he  killed  his  man. 


I2O 

Hungary  was  not  a  suitable  residence  for  him  after 
the  duel,  and  he  went  back  to  England,  and  there  he 
found  the  country  in  a  state  of  excitement  in  regard 
to  the  American  Colonies.  Now,  if  there  was  any- 
thing that  Lee  liked,  it  was  a  state  of  excitement, 
and  in  the  midst  of  this  political  hubbub  he  felt  as 
much  at  home  as  if  he  had  been  charging  the  ranks 
of  an  enemy.  Of  course,  he  took  part  against  the 
government,  for,  as  far  as  we  know,  he  had  always 
been  against  it,  and  he  became  a  violent  supporter  of 
the  rights  of  the  colonists. 

He  was  so  much  in  earnest  in  this  matter,  that  in 
1773  he  came  to  America  to  see  for  himself  how 
matters  stood.  When  he  got  over  here,  he  became 
more  strongly  in  favor  of  the  colonists  than  he  had 
been  at  home,  and  everywhere  proclaimed  that  the 
Americans  were  right  in  resisting  the  unjust  taxation 
claims  of  Great  Britain.  As  he  had  always  been 
ready  to  lay  aside  his  British  birthright  and  become 
some  sort  of  a  foreigner,  he  now  determined  to  be- 
come an  American ;  and  to  show  that  he  was  in  ear- 
nest, he  went  down  to  Virginia  and  bought  a  farm 
there. 

Lee  soon  became  acquainted  with  people  in  high 
places  in  American  politics ;  and  when  the  first  Con- 
gress assembled,  he  was  ready  to  talk  with  its  mem- 
bers, urging  them  to  stand  up  for  their  rights,  and 
draw  their  swords  and  load  their  guns  in  defense  of 
independence.  It  was  quite  natural,  that,  when  the 
Revolution  really  began,  a  man  who  was  so  strongly 
in  favor  of  the  patriots,  and  had  had  so  much  military 


121 

experience  in  so  many  different  lands,  should  be  al- 
lowed to  take  part  in  the  war,  and  Charles  Lee  was 
appointed  major  general. 

This  was  a  high  military  position,  —  much  higher,  in 
fact,  than  he  could  ever  have  obtained  in  his  own  coun- 
try,—  but  it  did  not  satisfy  him.  The  position  he 
wanted  was  that  of  commander  in  chief  of  the  Ameri- 
can army;  and  he  was  surprised  and  angry  that  it 
was  not  offered  to  him,  and  that  a  man  of  his  ability 
should  be  passed  over,  and  that  high  place  given  to 
a  person  like  George  Washington,  who  knew  but  little 
of  war,  and  had  no  idea  whatever  how  the  thing  was 
done  in  Portugal,  Poland,  Russia,  and  Turkey,  and  who 
was,  in  fact,  no  more  than  a  country  gentleman. 

All  this  showed  that  these  Americans  were  fools, 
who  did  not  understand  their  best  interests.  But  as 
there  was  a  good  chance  for  a  fight,  and,  in  fact,  a 
good  many  fights,  and  as  a  major-generalship  was  not 
to  be  sneered  at,  he  accepted  it,  and  resigned  the  com- 
mission which  he  held  in  the  English  army. 

He  was  doubtless  in  earnest  in  his  desire  to  assist 
the  Americans  to  obtain  their  independence,  for  he 
was  always  in  earnest  when  he  was  doing  anything 
that  he  was  inclined  to  do.  But  he  did  not  propose 
to  sacrifice  his  own  interests  to  the  cause  he  had 
undertaken;  and  as,  by  entering  the  American  army, 
he  risked  the  loss  of  his  estate  in  England,  he  arranged 
with  Congress  for  compensation  for  such  loss. 

But,  although  General  Lee  was  now  a  very  ardent 
American  soldier,  he  could  not  forgive  Mr.  Washing- 
ton for  taking  command  above  him.  If  that  Virginia 


122 

gentleman  had  had  the  courtesy  and  good  sense  which 
were  generally  attributed  to  him,  he  would  have  re- 
signed the  supreme  command,  and,  modestly  stepping 
aside,  would  have  asked  General  Lee  to  accept  it.  At 
least,  that  was  the  opinion  of  General  Charles  Lee. 

As  this  high  and  mighty  soldier  was  so  unwilling 
to  submit  to  the  orders  of  incompetent  people,  he 
never  liked  to  be  under  the  direct  command  of  Wash- 
ington, and,  if  it  were  possible  to  do  so,  he  managed 
to  be  concerned  in  operations  not  under  the  immediate 
eye  of  the  commander  in  chief.  In  fact,  he  was  very 
jealous  indeed  of  Washington,  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
express  his  opinion  about  him  whenever  he  had  a 
chance. 

The  American  army  was  not  very  successful  in  Long 
Island,  and  there  was  a  time  when  it  fared  very  badly 
in  New  Jersey;  and  Lee  was  not  slow  to  declare  that 
these  misfortunes  were  owing  entirely  to  the  ignorance 
of  the  man  who  was  in  command.  Moreover,  if  there 
was  any  one  who  wanted  to  know  if  there  was  another 
man  in  the  Colonies  who  could  command  the  army 
better,  and  lead  it  more  certainly  and  speedily  to 
victory,  General  Lee  was  always  ready  to  mention  an 
experienced  soldier  who  would  be  able  to  perform  that 
duty  most  admirably. 

If  it  had  not  been  for  this  unfortunate  and  jealous 
disposition,  Charles  Lee  —  a  very  different  man  from 
"  Light  Horse  Harry  "  Lee  —  would  have  been  one 
of  the  most  useful  officers  in  the  American  army. 
But  he  had  such  a  jealousy  of  Washington,  and  hoped 
so  continually  that  something  would  happen  which 


123 

would  give  him  the  place  then  occupied  by  the  Vir- 
ginia country  gentleman,  that,  although  he  was  at 
heart  an  honest  patriot,  he  allowed  himself  to  do 
things  which  were  not  at  all  patriotic.  He  wanted  .to 
see  the  Americans  successful  in  the  country,  but  he 
did  not  want  to  see  all  that  happen  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Washington ;  and  if  he  could  put  an  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  that  incompetent  person,  he  would  do 
it,  and  be  glad  to  see  him  stumble  over  it. 

In  the  winter  of  1776,  when  the  American  army 
was  making  its  way  across  New  Jersey,  towards  the 
Delaware  River,  with  Cornwallis  in  pursuit,  Washing- 
ton was  anxiously  looking  for  the  troops,  under  the 
command  of  General  Lee,  who  had  been  ordered  to 
come  to  his  assistance ;  and  if  ever  assistance  was 
needed,  it  was  needed  then.  But  Lee  liked  to  do  his 
own  ordering,  and,  instead  of  hurrying  to  help  Wash- 
ington, he  thought  it  would  be  a  great  deal  better  to 
do  something  on  his  own  account;  and  so  he  endeav- 
ored to  get  into  the  rear  of  Cornwallis's  army,  think- 
ing, that,  if  he  should  attack  the  enemy  in  that  way, 
he  might  possibly  win  a  startling  victory,  which  would 
cover  him  with  glory,  and  show  how  much  better  a 
soldier  he  was  than  that  poor  Washington  who  was 
retreating  across  the  country,  instead  of  boldly  turn- 
ing and  showing  fight. 

If  Lee  had  been  a  true  soldier,  and  had  consci- 
entiously obeyed  the  commands  of  his  superior,  he 
would  have  joined  Washington  and  his  army  without 
delay,  and  a  short  time  afterward  would  have  had 
an  opportunity  of  taking  part  in  the  battle  of  Tren- 


124 

ton,  in  which  the  Virginia  country  gentleman  de- 
feated the  British,  and  gained  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant victories  of  the  war. 

^Lee  pressed  slowly  onward  —  ready  to  strike  a 
great  blow  for  himself,  and  unwilling  to  help  any- 
body else  strike  a  blow  —  until  he  came  to  Morris- 
town;  and,  after  staying  there  one  night,  he  pro- 
ceeded in  the  direction  of  Basking  Ridge,  a  pretty 
village  not  far  away.  Lee  left  his  army  at  Bernards- 
ville,  which  was  then  known  as  Vealtown,  and  rode 
on  to  Basking  Ridge,  accompanied  only  by  a  small 
guard.  There  he  took  lodgings  at  an  inn,  and  made 
himself  comfortable.  The  next  morning  he  did  not 
go  and  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  army  and 
move  on,  because  there  were  various  affairs  which 
occupied  his  attention. 

Several  of  his  guard  wished  to  speak  to  him,  some 
of  them  being  men  from  Connecticut,  who  appeared 
before  him  in  full-bottomed  wigs,  showing  plainly 
that  they  considered  themselves  people  who  were 
important  enough  to  have  their  complaints  attended 
to.  One  of  them  wanted  his  horse  shod,  another 
asked  for  some  money  on  account  of  his  pay,  and  a 
third  had  something  to  say  about  rations.  But  Gen- 
eral Lee  cut  them  all  off  very  shortly  with,  "  You 
want  a  great  deal,  but  you  have  not  mentioned  what 
you  want  most.  You  want  to  go  home,  and  I  should 
be  glad  to  let  you  go,  for  you  are  no  good  here." 
Then  his  adjutant  general  asked  to  see  him;  and  he 
had  a  visit  from  a  Major  Wilkinson,  who  arrived  that 
morning  with  a  letter  from  General  Gates. 


125 

All  these  things  occupied  him  very  much,  and  he 
did  not  sit  down  to  breakfast  till  ten  o'clock.  Shortly 
after  they  had  finished  their  meal,  and  Lee  was 
writing  a  letter  to  General  Gates,  in  which  he  ex- 
pressed a  very  contemptible  opinion  of  General  Wash- 
ington, Major  Wilkinson  saw,  at  the  end  of  the  lane 
which  led  from  the  house  down  to  the  main  road,  a 
party  of  British  cavalry,  who  dashed  round  the  cor- 
ner toward  the  house.  The  major  immediately  called 
out  to  General  Lee  that  the  Redcoats  were  coming; 
but  Lee,  who  was  a  man  not  to  be  frightened  by 
sudden  reports,  finished  signing  the  letter,  and  then 
jumped  up  to  see  what  was  the  matter. 

By  this  time  the  dragoons  had  surrounded  the 
house ;  and  when  he  perceived  this,  General  Lee 
naturally  wanted  to  know  where  the  guards  were,  and 
why  they  did  not  fire  on  these  fellows.  But  there 
was  no  firing,  and  apparently  there  were  no  guards; 
and  when  Wilkinson  went  to  look  for  them,  he  found 
their  arms  in  the  room  which  had  been  their  quar- 
ters, but  the  men  were  gone.  These  private  soldiers 
had  evidently  been  quite  as  free  and  easy,  and  as 
bent  upon  making  themselves  comfortable,  as  had 
been  the  general,  and  they  had  had  no  thought  that 
such  a  thing  as  a  British  soldier  was  anywhere  in 
the  neighborhood.  When  Wilkinson  looked  out  of 
the  door,  he  saw  the  guards  running  in  every  direc- 
tion, with  dragoons  chasing  them. 

What  all  this  meant,  nobody  knew  at  first;  and 
Wilkinson  supposed  that  it  was  merely  a  band  of 
marauders  of  the  British  army,  who  were  making  a 


126 

raid  into  the  country  to  get  what  they  could  in  the 
way  of  plunder.  It  was  not  long  before  this  was 
found  to  be  a  great  mistake ;  for  the  officer  in  com- 
mand of  the  dragoons  called  from  the  outside,  and 
demanded  that  General  Lee  should  surrender  himself, 
and  that,  if  he  did  not  do  so  in  five  minutes,  the 
house  would  be  set  on  fire. 

Now,  it  was  plain  to  everybody  that  the  British 
had  heard  of  the  leisurely  advance  of  this  American 
general,  and  that  he  had  left  his  command  and  come 
to  Basking  Ridge  to  take  his  ease  at  an  inn,  and  so 
they  had  sent  a  detachment  to  capture  him.  Soon 
the  women  of  the  house  came  to  General  Lee,  and 
urged  him  to  hide  himself  under  a  feather  bed. 
They  declared  that  they  would  cover  him  up  so  that 
nobody  would  suspect  that  he  was  in  the  bed;  then 
they  would  tell  the  soldiers  that  he  was  not  there, 
and  that  they  might  come  and  search  the  house  if 
they  chose. 

But  although  Lee  was  a  jealous  man  and  a  hasty 
man,  he  had  a  soul  above  such  behavior  as  this,  and 
would  not  hide  himself  in  a  feather  bed ;  but,  as  there 
was  no  honorable  way  of  escape,  he  boldly  came  for- 
ward and  surrendered  himself. 

The  British  gave  him  no  time  to  make  any  prepa- 
rations for  departure.  They  did  not  know  but  that 
his  army  might  be  on  the  way  to  Basking  Ridge; 
and  the  sooner  they  were  off,  the  better.  So  they 
made  him  jump  on  Major  Wilkinson's  horse,  which 
was  tied  by  the  door;  and  in  his  slippers  and  dress- 
ing gown,  and  without  a  hat,  this  bold  soldier  of  wide 


127 

experience,  who  thought  he  should  be  commander 
in  chief  of  the  American  army,  was  hurried  away  at 
full  gallop.  He  was  taken  to  New  York,  where  he 
was  put  into  prison.  It  is  said  that  Lee  plotted  against 
America  during  his  imprisonment ;  but  General  Wash- 
ington did  not  know  that,  and  used  every  exertion  to 
have  him  exchanged,  so  that  his  aspiring  rival  soon 
again  joined  the  American  army. 


But  his  misfortune  had  no  good  effect  upon  Gen- 
eral Charles  Lee,  who  came  back  to  his  command  with 
as  high  an  opinion  of  himself,  and  as  low  an  opinion 
of  certain  other  people,  as  he  had  had  when  he  in- 
voluntarily left  it.  It  was  some  time  after  this,  at 
the  battle  of  Monmouth  Court  House,  that  Charles 
Lee  showed  what  sort  of  a  man  he  really  was.  He 
had  now  become  so  jealous  that  he  positively  deter- 


128 

mined  that  he  would  not  obey  orders,  and  would  act 
as  he  thought  best.  He  had  command  of  a  body  of 
troops  numbering  five  thousand,  a  good-sized  army 
for  those  days,  and  he  was  ordered  to  advance  to 
Monmouth  Court  House  and  attack  the  enemy  who 
were  there,  while  Washington,  with  another  force, 
would  hasten  to  his  assistance  as  rapidly  as  possible. 

Washington  carried  out  his  part  of  the  plan ;  but 
when  he  had  nearly  reached  Monmouth,  he  found,  to 
his  amazement,  that  Lee  had  gone  there,  but  had  done 
no  fighting  at  all,  and  was  now  actually  retreating,  and 
coming  in  his  direction.  As  it  would  be  demoralizing 
in  the  highest  degree  to  his  own  command,  if  Lee's 
armed  forces  in  full  retreat  should  come  upon  them, 
Washington  hurried  forward  to  prevent  anything  of 
the  sort,  and  soon  met  Lee.  When  the  latter  was  asked 
what  was  the  meaning  of  this  strange  proceeding,  he 
could  give  no  good  reason,  except  that  he  thought 
it  better  not  to  risk  an  engagement  at  that  time. 

Then  the  Virginia  country  gentleman  blazed  out  at 
the  soldier  of  fortune,  and  it  is  said  that  no  one  ever 
heard  George  Washington  speak  to  any  other  man  as 
he  spoke  to  General  Lee  on  that  day.  He  was  told  to 
go  back  to  his  command  and  to  obey  orders,  and  to- 
gether the  American  forces  moved  on.  In  the  battle 
which  followed,  the  enemy  was  repulsed ;  but  the 
victory  was  not  so  complete  as  it  should  have  been, 
for  the  British  departed  in  the  night  and  went  where 
they  intended  to  go,  without  being  cut  off  by  the 
American  army,  as  would  have  been  the  case  if  Lee 
had  obeyed  the  orders  which  were  given  him. 


129 

General  Lee  was  very  angry  at  the  charges  which 
Washington  had  made  against  him,  and  demanded  that 
he  should  be  tried  by  court-martial.  His  wish  was 
granted.  He  was  tried,  and  found  guilty  of  every 
charge  made  against  him,  and  in  consequence  was 
suspended  from  the  army  for  one  year. 

But  Charles  Lee  never  went  back  into  the  Ameri- 
can army.  Perhaps  he  had  had  enough  of  it.  In  any 
event,  it  had  had  enough  of  him ;  and  seven  years  after- 
wards, when  he  died  of  a  fever,  his  ambition  to  stand 
in  Washington's  shoes  died  with  him.  While  he  lived 
on  his  Virginia  farm,  he  was  as  impetuous  and  eccen- 
tric as  when  he  had  been  in  the  army,  and  he  must 
have  been  a  very  unpleasant  neighbor.  In  fact,  the 
people  there  thought  he  was  crazy.  This  opinion  was 
not  changed  when  his  will  was  read,  for  in  that 
document  he  said,  — 

"  I  desire  most  earnestly  that  I  may  not  be  buried 
in  any  church  or  churchyard, "  or  within  a  mile  of 
any  Presbyterian  or  Anabaptist  meetinghouse ;  for 
since  I  have  resided  in  this  country  I  have  kept  so 
much  bad  company  when  living,  that  I  do  not  choose 
to  continue  it  when  dead." 


THE   MAN    IN   THE   "AUGER    HOLE." 

WHEN  we  consider  the  American  Revolution,  we 
are  apt  to  think  of  it  as  a  great  war  in  which 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Colonies  rose  up  against  Great 
Britain,  determined,  no  matter  what  might  be  the  hard- 
ships and  privations,  no  matter  what  the  cost  in  blood 
and  money,  to  achieve  their  independence  and  the  right 
to  govern  themselves. 

But  this  was  not  the  case.  A  great  majority  of  the 
people  of  the  Colonies  were  ardently  in  favor  of  inde- 
pendence ;  but  there  were  also  a  great  many  people, 
and  we  have  no  right  to  say  that  some  of  them  were 
not  very  good  people,  who  were  as  well  satisfied  that 
their  country  should  be  a  colony  of  Great  Britain  as 
the  Canadians  are  now  satisfied  with  that  state  of 
things,  and  who  were  earnestly  and  honestly  opposed 
to  any  separation  from  the  mother  country. 

This  difference  of  opinion  was  the  cause  of  great 
trouble  and  bloodshed  among  the  colonists  themselves, 
and  the  contests  between  the  Tories  and  the  Whigs 
were  nowhere  more  bitter  than  in  New  Jersey.  In 
some  parts  of  the  Colony,  families  were  divided  against 
themselves ;  and  not  only  did  this  result  in  quarrels  and 
separations,  but  fathers  and  sons,  and  brothers  and 

130 


brothers,  fought  against  each  other.  At  one  time  the 
Tories,  or,  as  they  came  to  be  called,  "  refugees,"  were 
in  such  numbers  that  they  took  possession  of  the  town 
of  Freehold,  and  held  it  for  more  than  a  week ;  and 
when  at  last  the  town  was  retaken  by  the  patriotic 
forces,  most  of  them  being  neighbors  and  friends  of 
the  refugees,  several  prominent  Tories  were  hanged, 
and  many  others  sent  to  prison. 

The  feeling  between  the  Americans  of  the  two  dif- 
ferent parties  was  more  violent  than  that  between  the 
patriots  and  the  British  troops,  and  before  long  it 
became  entirely  unsafe  for  any  Tory  to  remain  in  his 
own  home  in  New  Jersey.  Many  of  them  went  to 
New  York,  where  the  patriotic  feeling  was  not  so 
strong  at  that  time,  and  there  they  formed  themselves 
into  a  regular  military  company  called  the  "  Associated 
Loyalists ; "  and  this  company  was  commanded  by 
William  Temple  Franklin,  son  of  the  great  Benjamin 
Franklin,  who  had  been  appointed  governor  of  New 
Jersey  by  the  British  Crown.  He  was  now  regarded 
with  great  hatred  by  the  patriots  of  New  Jersey,  be- 
cause he  was  a  strong  Tory.  This  difference  of  opinion 
between  William  Franklin  and  his  father  was  the  most 
noted  instance  of  this  state  of  feeling  which  occurred 
in  those  days. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  look  upon  this  great  contest 
from  a  different  point  of  view  than  that  from  which 
we  are  accustomed  to  regard  it ;  and  some  extracts  from 
the  journal  of  a  New  Jersey  lady  who  was  a  decided 
Tory,  will  give  us  an  idea  of  the  feeling  and  condition 
of  the  people  who  were  opposed  to  the  Revolution. 


132 

This  lady  was  Mrs.  Margaret  Hill  Morris,  who  lived 
in  Burlington.  She  was  a  Quaker  lady,  and  must  have 
been  a  person  of  considerable  wealth ;  for  she  had  pur- 
chased the  house  on  Green  Bank,  one  of  the  prettiest 
parts  of  Burlington,  overlooking  the  river,  in  which 
Governor  Franklin  had  formerly  resided.  This  was  a 
fine  house,  and  contained  the  room  which  afterwards 
became  celebrated  under  the  name  of  the  "Auger 
Hole."  This  had  been  built,  for  what  reason  is  not 
known,  as  a  place  of  concealment.  It  was  a  small  room, 
entirely  dark,  but  said  to  be  otherwise  quite  comforta- 
ble, which  could  be  approached  only  through  a  linen 
closet.  In  order  to  get  at  it,  the  linen  had  to  be  taken 
from  the  shelves,  the  shelves  drawn  out,  and  a  small 
door  opened  at  the  back  of  the  closet,  quite  low  down, 
so  that  the  dark  room  could  only  be  entered  by  stooping. 

In  this  "  auger  hole,"  Mrs.  Morris,  who  was  a  strong 
Tory,  but  a  very  good  woman,  had  concealed  a  refugee 
who  at  the  time  was  sought  for  by  the  adherents  of 
the  patriotic  side,  and  who  probably  would  have  had 
a  hard  time  of  it  if  he  had  been  caught,  for  he  was 
a  person  of  considerable  importance. 

The  name  of  the  refugee  was  Jonathan  Odell,  and 
he  was  rector  of  St.  Mary's  Church  in  Burlington. 
He  was  a  learned  man,  being  a  doctor  as  well  as  a 
clergyman,  and  a  very  strong  Tory.  He  had  been 
of  much  service  to  the  people  of  Burlington ;  for  when 
the  Hessians  had  attacked  the  town,  he  had  come 
forward  and  interceded  with  their  commander,  and 
had  done  his  work  so  well  that  the  soldiers  were  for- 
bidden to  pillage  the  town.  But  when  the  Hessians 


133 

left,  the  American  authorities  began  a  vigorous  search 
for  Tories ;  and  Parson  Odell  was  obliged  to  conceal 
himself  in  good  Mrs.  Morris's  "auger  hole." 

Mrs.  Morris  was  apparently  a  widow  who  lived 
alone  with  her  two  boys,  and,  having  this  refugee  in 
her  house,  she  was  naturally  very  nervous  about  the 
movements  of  the  American  troops  and  the  actions 
of  her  neighbors  of  the  opposite  party. 

She  kept  a  journal  of  the  things  that  happened 
about  her  in  those  eventful  days,  and  from  this  we 
will  give  some  extracts.  It  must  be  understood  that 
in  writing  her  journal,  the  people  designated  as  the 
"  enemy "  were  the  soldiers  under  Washington,  and 
that  "  gondolas  "  were  American  gunboats. 

"From  the  I3th  to  the  i6th  we  had  various  reports  of  the  ad- 
vancing and  retiring  of  the  enemy ;  parties  of  armed  men  rudely 
entered  the  town  and  diligent  search  was  made  for  tones.  Some  of 
the  gondola  gentry  broke  into  and  pillaged  Rd  Smith's  house  on 
the  bank.  About  noon  this  day  [i6th]  a  very  terrible  account  of 
thousands  coming  into  the  town,  and  now  actually  to  be  seen  on 
Gallows  Hill :  my  incautious  son  caught  up  the  spyglass,  and  was 
running  towards  the  mill  to  look  at  them.  I  told  him  it  would  be 
liable  to  misconstruction." 

The  journal  states  that  the  boy  went  out  with  the 
spyglass,  but  could  get  no  good  place  from  which  he 
could  see  Gallows  Hill,  or  any  troops  upon  it,  and 
so  went  down  to  the  river,  and  thought  he  would  take 
a  view  of  the  boats  in  which  were  the  American 
troops.  He  rested  his  spyglass  on  the  low  limb  of 
a  tree,  and  with  a  boyish  curiosity  inspected  the 
various  boats  of  the  little  fleet,  not  suspecting  that 
any  one  would  object  to  such  a  harmless  proceeding. 


134 

But  the  people  on  the  boats  saw  him,  and  did  object 
very  much;  and  the  consequence  was,  that,  not  long 
after  he  reached  his  mother's  house,  a  small  boat 
from  one  of  the  vessels  came  to  shore.  A  party  of 
men  went  to  the  front  door  of  the  house  in  which 
they  had  seen  the  boy  enter,  and  began  loudly  to 
knock  upon  it.  Poor  Mrs.  Morris  was  half  fright- 
ened to  death,  and  she  made  as  much  delay  as  pos- 
sible in  order  to  compose  her  features  and  act  as  if 
she  had  never  heard  of  a  refugee  who  wished  to  hide 
himself  from  his  pursuers.  In  the  mild  manner  in 
which  Quaker  women  are  always  supposed  to  speak, 
she  asked  them  what  they  wanted.  They  quickly  told 
her  that  they  had  heard  that  there  was  a  refugee,  to 
whom  they  applied  some  very  strong  language,  who  was 
hiding  somewhere  about  here,  and  that  they  had  seen 
him  spying  at  them  with  a  glass  from  behind  a  tree, 
and  afterwards  watched  him  as  he  entered  this  house. 

Mrs.  Morris  declared  that  they  were  entirely  mis- 
taken; that  the  person  they  had  seen  was  no  one  but 
her  son,  who  had  gone  out  to  look  at  them  as  any 
boy  might  do,  and  who  was  perfectly  innocent  of  any 
designs  against  them.  The  men  may  have  been 
satisfied  with  this  explanation  in  regard  to  her  son ; 
but  they  asserted  that  they  knew  that  there  was  a 
refugee  concealed  somewhere  in  that  neighborhood, 
and  they  believed  that  he  was  in  an  empty  house  near 
by,  of  which  they  were  told  she  had  the  key.  Mrs. 
Morris,  who  had  given  a  signal,  previously  agreed  upon, 
to  the  man  in  the  "auger  hole,"  to  keep  very  quiet, 
wished  to  gain  as  much  time  as  possible,  and  exclaimed 


135 


them 


"  Bless  me !    I  hope  you  are  not  Hessians." 

"  Do  we  look  like  Hessians  ? "   asked  one  of 
rudely. 

"Indeed,  I  don't  know." 

"  Did  you  ever  see  a  Hessian  ? " 

"  No,  never  in  my  life ;  but  they  are  men,  and  you 
are  men,  and  may  be  Hessians,  for  anything  I  know. 
But  I  will  go  with  you  into 
Colonel     Cox's    house, 
though  indeed  it  was 
my  son  at  the  mill ; 
he  is  but  a  boy,  and 
meant  no  harm  ;  he 
wanted  to  see  the 
troops." 

So  she  took  the 
key  of  the  empty 
house  referred  to, 
and  went  in  ahead 
of  the  men,  who 
searched  the  place 
thoroughly,      and, 
after     finding     no 
place  where  anybody 
could  be,  they  searched 

one  or  two  of  the  houses  adjoining;  but  for  some 
reason  they  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  go  through 
Mrs.  Morris's  own  house.  Had  they  done  so,  it  is  not 
probable  that  the  good  lady  could  have  retained  her 
composure,  especially  if  they  had  entered  the  room  in 
which  was  the  linen  closet ;  for,  even  had  they  been 


136 

completely  deceived  by  the  piles  of  sheets  and  pillow- 
cases, there  is  no  knowing  but  that  the  unfortunate 
man  in  the  "auger  hole"  might  have  been  inclined 
to  sneeze. 

But  although  she  was  a  brave  woman,  and  very 
humanely  inclined,  Mrs.  Morris  felt  she  could  not  any 
longer  take  the  risk  of  a  refugee  in  her  house.  And 
so  that  night,  after  dark,  she  went  up  to  the  parson 
in  the  "auger  hole,"  and  made  him  come  out;  and 
she  took  him  into  the  town,  where  he  was  concealed 
by  some  of  the  Tory  citizens,  who  were  better  adapted 
to  take  care  of  the  refugee  than  this  lone  Quaker 
woman  with  her  two  inquisitive  boys!  It  is  believed 
that  soon  after  this  he  took  refuge  in  New  York, 
which  was  then  in  the  hands  of  the  British. 

Further  on  in  the  journal,  Mrs.  Morris  indulges  in 
some  moral  reflections  in  regard  to  the  war  in  which 
her  countrymen  were  engaged,  and  no  one  of  right 
feeling  will  object  to  her  sentiments. 

"Jan.  14.  I  hear  Gen.  Howe  sent  a  request  to  Washington  de- 
siring three  days  cessation  of  arms  to  take  care  of  the  wounded  and 
bury  the  dead,  which  was  refused :  what  a  woeful  tendency  war  has 
to  harden  the  human  heart  against  the  tender  feelings  of  humanity. 
Well  may  it  be  called  a  horrid  art  thus  to  change  the  nature  of  man. 
I  thought  that  even  barbarous  nations  had  a  sort  of  religious  regard 
for  their  dead." 

After  this  the  journal  contains  many  references  to 
warlike  scenes  on  the  river  and  warlike  sounds  from 
the  country  around.  Numbers  of  gondolas  filled  with 
soldiers  went  up  and  down  the  river,  at  times  cannon 
from  distant  points  firing  alarums.  At  other  times  the 


137 

roaring  of  great  guns  from  a  distance,  showing  that  a 
battle  was  going  on,  kept  the  people  of  Burlington  in 
a  continual  excitement ;  and  Mrs.  Morris,  who  was  en- 
tirely cut  off  from  her  relatives  and  friends,  several  of 
whom  were  living  in  Philadelphia,  was  naturally  very 
anxious  and  disturbed  in  regard  to  events,  of  which 
she  heard  but  little,  and  perhaps  understood  less. 

One  day  she  saw  a  number  of  gunboats,  with  flags 
flying  and  drums  beating,  that  were  going,  she  was 
told,  to  attend  a  court-martial  at  which  a  number  of 
refugees,  men  of  her  party,  were  to  be  tried  by  Gen- 
eral Putnam ;  and  it  was  believed  that  if  they  were 
found  guilty  they  would  be  executed. 

After  a  time,  Mrs.  Morris  found  an  opportunity  of 
showing,  that,  although  in  principle  she  might  be  a 
Tory,  she  was  at  heart  a  good,  kind  Quaker  lady, 
ready  to  give  help  to  suffering  people,  no  matter 
whether  they  belonged  to  the  side  she  favored  or  to 
that  which  she  opposed. 

Some  of  the  people  who  came  up  the  river  in  the 
gunboats  —  and  in  many  cases  the  soldiers  brought 
their  wives  with  them,  probably  as  cooks  —  were  taken 
sick  during  that  summer ;  and  some  of  these  inva- 
lids stopped  at  Burlington,  being  unable  to  proceed 
farther. 

Here,  to  their  surprise,  they  found  no  doctors;  for 
all  the  patriots  of  that  profession  had  gone  to  the  army, 
and  the  Tory  physicians  had  departed  to  the  British 
lines.  But,  as  has  been  said  before,  the  women  in 
the  early  days  of  New  Jersey  were  often  obliged  to 
be  physicians ;  and  among  the  good  housewives  of 


Burlington,  who  knew  all  about  herb  teas,  homemade 
plasters,  and  potions,  Mrs.  Morris  held  a  high  position. 
The  sick  Continentals  were  told  that  she  was  just  as 
good  as  a  doctor,  and,  besides,  was  a  very  kind  woman, 
always  ready  to  help  the  sick  and  suffering. 

So  some  of  the  sick  soldiers  came  to  her ;  and  from 
what   Mrs.    Morris   wrote,  one   or   two    of   them    must 
_  v  have    been    the    same    men    who   had 

previously  come   to   her  house  and 
threatened  the  life  of  her  boy,  who 
had  been  looking  at  them  with  a 
spyglass.     But  now  they  very 
meekly   and  humbly  asked 
her  to  come  and  attend 
their     poor     comrades 
who   were    unable    to 
move.     At  first  Mrs. 
Morris  thought  this 
was  some  sort  of  a 
trick,   and  that  they 
wanted  to  get  her  on 
board  of   one  of  the  gunboats, 
A        V>>        and  carry  her  away.     But  when 
she  found  that  the  sick  people  were 
in  a  house  in  the  town,  she  consented  to  go  and  do 
what  she  could.     So  she  took  her  bottles  with  her,  and 
her  boxes  and  her  herbs,  and  visited  the  sick  people, 
several  of  whom  she  found  were  women. 

They  were  all  afflicted  with  some  sort  of  a  fever, 
probably  of  a  malarial  kind,  contracted  from  living 
day  and  night  on  board  of  boats  without  proper  pro- 


139 

tection ;  and,  knowing  just  what  to  do  in  such  cases, 
she,  to  use  her  own  expression,  "  treated  them  accord- 
ing to  art,"  and  it  was  not  long  before  they  all 
recovered. 

What  happened  in  consequence  of  this  hospital 
work  for  those  whom  she  considered  her  enemies,  is 
thus  related  by  Mrs.  Morris:  — 

"I  thought  I  had  received  all  my  pay  when  they  thankfully 
acknowledged  all  my  kindness,  but  lo!  in  a  short  time  afterwards, 
a  very  rough,  ill-looking  man  came  to  the  door  and  asked  for  me. 
When  I  went  to  him,  he  drew  me  aside  and  asked  me  if  I  had  any 
friends  in  Philadelphia.  The  question  alarmed  me,  supposing  that 
there  was  some  mischief  meditated  against  that  poor  city  ;  however, 
I  calmly  said,  *I  have  an  ancient  father-in-law,  some  sisters,  and 
other  near  friends  there.'  'Well,1  said  the  man,  'do  you  wish  to 
hear  from  them,  or  send  anything  by  way  of  refreshment  to  them? 
If  you  do,  I  will  take  charge  of  it  and  bring  you  back  anything  you 
may  send  for.'  I  was  very  much  surprised,  to  be  sure,  and  thought 
he  only  wanted  to  get  provisions  to  take  to  the  gondolas,  when  he 
told  me  his  wife  was  one  I  had  given  medicine  to,  and  this  was  the 
only  thing  he  could  do  to  pay  me  for  my  kindness.  My  heart 
leaped  for  joy,  and  I  set  about  preparing  something  for  my  dear 
absent  friends.  A  quarter  of  beef,  some  veal,  fowls,  and  flour,  were 
soon  put  up,  and  about  midnight  the  man  came  and  took  them  away 
in  his  boat." 

Mrs.  Morris  was  not  mistaken  in  trusting  to  the 
good  intentions  of  this  grateful  Continental  soldier, 
for,  as  she  says,  two  nights  later  there  came  a  loud 
knocking  at  the  door:  — 

"  Opening  the  chamber  window,  we  heard  a  man's  voice  saying, 
'  Come  down  softly  and  open  the  door,  but  bring  no  light.'  There 
was  something  mysterious  in  such  a  call,  and  we  concluded  to  go 
down  and  set  the  candle  in  the  kitchen.  When  we  got  to  the  front 
door  we  asked,  'Who  are  you?'  The  man  replied,  'A  friend; 


140 

open  quickly : '  so  the  door  was  opened,  and  who  should  it  be  but 
our  honest  gondola  man  with  a  letter,  a  bushel  of  salt,  a  jug  of 
molasses,  a  bag  of  rice,  some  tea,  coffee,  and  sugar,  and  some  cloth 
for  a  coat  for  my  poor  boys  —  all  sent  by  my  kind  sisters.  How 
did  our  hearts  and  eyes  overflow  with  love  to  them  and  thanks  to 
our  Heavenly  Father  for  such  seasonable  supplies.  May  we  never 
forget  it.  Being  now  so  rich,  we  thought  it  our  duty  to  hand  out 
a  little  to  the  poor  around  us,  who  were  mourning  for  want  of  salt, 
so  we  divided  the  bushel  and  gave  a  pint  to  every  poor  person  who 
came  for  it,  and  had  a  great  plenty  for  our  own  use." 

As  the  war  drew  to  its  close  and  it  became  plain 
to  every  one  that  the  cause  of  the  patriots  must  tri- 
umph, the  feeling  between  the  two  parties  of  Amer- 
icans became  less  bitter ;  and  the  Tories,  in  many 
cases,  saw  that  it  would  be  wise  for  them  to  accept 
the  situation,  and  become  loyal  citizens  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  as  before  they  had  been  loyal 
subjects  of  Great  Britain. 

When  peace  was  at  last  proclaimed,  those  Tories 
who  were  prisoners  were  released,  and  almost  all  of 
them  who  had  owned  farms  or  estates  had  them 
returned  to  them,  and  Mrs.  Morris  could  visit  her 
"  ancient  father-in-law "  and  her  sisters  in  Philadel- 
phia, or  they  could  come  up  the  river  and  visit  her 
in  her  house  on  the  beautiful  Green  Bank  at  Burling- 
ton, without  fear  or  thought  of  those  fellow-country- 
men who  had  been  their  bitter  enemies. 


THE   STORY   OF   TWO   CAPTAINS. 

DURING  the  Revolution,  New  Jersey  had  a  very 
hard  time,  harder  in  some  ways  than  many  of 
her  sister  States.  This  may  be  accounted  for  by  the 
fact  that  much  of  her  territory  lay  between  the  two 
important  cities  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  and 
that  it  was  therefore  liable  to  be  the  scene  of  frequent 
battles  and  marches.  In  fact,  it  often  happens  that 
the  march  of  an  enemy  through  a  quiet  country  is 
almost  as  bad  as  a  disastrous  battle. 

Country  people  and  farmers,  especially  those  of  fruit- 
ful and  prosperous  countries,  are  generally  much  more 
opposed  to  war  than  people  in  cities;  and  so  it  hap- 
pened in  New  Jersey.  When  the  Revolution  began, 
there  were  a  good  many  people  who  did  not  care  par- 
ticularly about  taxation,  who  had  been  happy  and 
comfortable  all  their  days,  without  any  thought  of 
independence,  and  who  saw  no  reason  why  they  should 
not  continue  to  be  so;  and  these  did  not  immediately 
spring  to  arms  when  the  first  guns  of  the  war  were 
fired.  There  were  no  large  cities  in  New  Jersey.  It 
was  a  rural  community,  a  country  of  peaceable  people. 

When  the  British  troops  first  entered  New  Jersey, 
and  before  any  battles  had  been  fought,  the  commander 

141 


142 

in  chief  took  advantage  of  this  state  of  feeling,  and 
endeavored  as  far  as  possible  to  make  the  people  think 
that  the  Redcoats  were  in  reality  good  friends,  and 
intended  them  no  harm.  He  protested,  whenever  he 
had  a  chance,  that  when  these  disturbances  were  over, 
any  complaints  that  the  people  had  to  make  in  regard 
to  the  laws  made  by  their  English  rulers,  should  be 
carefully  attended  to,  and  their  grievances  redressed 
as  soon  as  possible. 

As  has  been  said  before,  a  great  many  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the 'Colony  were  in  favor  of  continuance  of  the 
British  rule,  and  from  these  arose  that  Tory  party 
which  afterwards  caused  so  much  bitterness  of  feeling 
and  bloody  contention.  But  there  were  also  others, 
who,  although  they  were  not  Tories,  were  not  in  favor 
of  fighting  if  it  could  be  helped,  and  these  the  British 
commander  most  wished  to  conciliate.  He  issued  a 
great  many  printed  papers  of  protection,  which  he 
gave  to  those  who  had  not  yet  taken  sides  against 
the  Crown.  The  people  who  received  these  were 
assured,  that,  so  long  as  they  had  them  to  show,  no 
Redcoat  soldier  would  in  any  way  disturb  them  or  their 
property. 

But  when  the  English  army  actually  spread  itself 
over  the  country,  and  the  soldiers  began  to  forage 
about  to  see  what  they  could  find  to  eat  and  drink 
better  than  their  rations,  the  Jersey  farmers  frequently 
discovered  that  these  papers  of  protection  were  of  no 
use  at  all.  If  shown  to  one  of  the  Hessians,  who 
were*  more  dreaded  than  the  other  soldiers  of  the 
British  army,  the  German  could  not  read  a  word  of  it, 


143 

and  paid  no  attention  to  it.  He  wanted  ducks  and 
geese,  and  took  them.  And  after  a  time  the  English 
soldiers  determined  that  the  Hessians  should  not  take 
all  they  wanted  while  they  stood  by  and  had  nothing, 
and  so  they  began  to  pillage,  without  regard  to  the 
little  printed  papers  which  the  angry  farmers  showed 
them. 

This  state  of  things  had  a  very  good  effect  upon 
the  rural  population  of  New  Jersey ;  and  as  the  con- 
duct of  the  British  soldiers  became  more  lawless,  so 
did  the  determination  to  resist  such  outrageous  actions 
become  stronger  and  stronger  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people  of  the  country,  and  they  readily  listened  to  the 
calls  to  arms  which  were  made  by  Washington  and 
by  Congress.  The  people  who  were  in  favor  of 
the  Revolution  and  independence  stood  together  and 
formed  themselves  on  one  side,  while  those  who  were 
still  loyal  to  the  King  formed  themselves  on  the  other. 
And  thus,  with  both  the  Tories  and  the  British  against 
them,  the  citizens  of  New  Jersey  began  in  good  earnest 
to  fight  for  their  liberties. 

In  the  war  which  was  now  waged  in  New  Jersey, 
it  very  often  happened  that  the  British  soldiers  had 
no  part  whatever;  and  although  the  battles  and  skir- 
mishes between  the  Tories  and  the  Whigs  were  gen- 
erally small  and  of  no  great  importance,  they  were 
always  violent  and  bloody.  Sometimes  the  forces  on 
each  side  were  considerable  enough  to  entitle  the 
affair  to  be  called  a  battle.  The  forces  of  the  Whigs 
or  patriots  in  these  encounters  were  almost  always 
composed  of  the  militiamen  of  the  State,  who  had  not 


144 

joined  the  regular  army,  but  who  had  enlisted  for  the 
purpose  of  defending  their  own  homes  and  farms.  In 
various  parts  of  the  country  there  were  men  who, 
some  on  one  side  and  some  on  the  other,  had  distin- 
guished themselves  as  soldiers. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  of  these  was  a  Captain 
Huddy  of  Monmouth  County.  He  had  command  of 
a  company  of  militiamen,  and  he  made  himself  very 
formidable  to  the  bodies  of  Tories  who  had  formed 
themselves  in  the  country,  and  his  name  and  fame  as 
a  great  fighter  began  to  spread  over  that  part  of  the 
State.  He  lived  in  a  good-sized  house,  for  that  time, 
in  the  village  of  Colt's  Neck,  and  in  this  house  he 
generally  kept  part  of  his  command. 

But  one  evening  he  happened  to  be  at  home  with- 
out any  one  with  him  except  a  servant,  a  negro  girl 
about  twenty  years  old.  His  men  had  all  gone  away 
on  some  errand,  and  the  fact  that  the  captain  was 
at  home  by  himself  became  known  to  some  Tories  in 
the  neighborhood.  These,  led  by  a  mulatto  named 
Tye,  made  an  attack  upon  his  house. 

But  although  Captain  Huddy's  men  were  all  away, 
they  had  left  their  guns  behind ;  and  so  the  brave 
Huddy,  instead  of  surrendering  to  the  force  of  fifty 
or  sixty  Tories  who  were  outside,  determined  to  fight 
them,  with  no  garrison  but  himself  and  the  negro 
girl,  and  he  made  ready  to  hold  his  house  as  long 
as  he  could.  The  girl  loaded  the  guns;  and  Huddy, 
running  from  one  window  to  another,  fired  at  the 
Tories  so  rapidly  and  with  such  good  effect,  that 
they  believed  that  there  were  a.  number  of  men  in 


145 

the  house,  and  so  did  not  dare  to  rush  forward  and 
break  in  the  doors,  as  they  certainly  would  have 
done  if  they  had  known  that  they  were  fighting  two 
persons  only,  and  one  of  them  a  girl. 


Several  of  the  attacking  party  were  wounded,  and 
they  found  at  last  that  there  was  little  chance  of 
capturing  this  fortress,  so  well  defended :  so  they  con- 
cluded to  burn  the  house,  and  thus  force  the  garrison 
to  come  out.  While  they  were  at  work  setting  fire 
to  the  wooden  building,  Huddy  shot  the  mulatto  in 

STO.  OF  N.J. —  IO 


146 

the  arm ;  but,  finding  that  he  could  not  prevent  them 
from  carrying  out  their  purpose,  he  shouted  to 
them  that  if  they  would  put  out  the  fire,  he  would 
surrender. 

When  the  fort  had  capitulated  and  the  enemy 
marched  in,  the  Tories  were  so  angry  to  find  that 
they  had  been  fighting  no  one  but  a  man  and  a 
negro  girl,  that  many  of  them  were  inclined  to  fall 
upon  these  unfortunates,  and  butcher  them  on  the 
spot ;  but  they  were  restrained.  As  it  was  known 
that  Huddy's  men  would  probably  soon  return,  —  for 
the  noise  of  the  firing  had  aroused  the  neighborhood, 
-the  enemy  seized  the  captain  and  hurried  him 
away,  leaving  the  rest  of  the  garrison  behind. 

It  may  be  said  here  that  this  girl,  whose  name 
was  Lucretia  Emmons,  afterwards  married  a  man 
named  Chambers,  and,  like  all  other  Jersey  women 
who  were  of  benefit  to  their  State,  lived  to  a  good 
old  age,  and  had  a  large  posterity. 

Captain  Huddy  was  hurried  away  to  the  boats  in 
which  the  Tories  had  arrived;  but  the  militiamen 
were  in  hot  pursuit,  and  a  running  fight  took  place 
between  them  and  the  Tories,  in  which  six  of  the 
latter  were  killed.  The  Tories,  with  their  prisoner, 
got  on  board  their  boats;  but  they  had  not  pushed 
very  far  from  the  shore,  before  the  militiamen  were 
firing  at  them  again.  During  the  hubbub  which  en- 
sued, Captain  Huddy  made  a  bold  dash  for  liberty. 
He  sprang  to  his  feet,  plunged  into  the  water,  and 
began  to  swim  to  the  shore.  In  so  doing,  unfortu 
nately,  he  received  a  shot  in  the  thigh  from  his  own 


147 

friends;  but  he  raised  his  hands  above  his  head  and 
shouted,  "  I  am  Huddy,  I  arm  Huddy ! "  and  so,  with 
one  leg  and'  two  arms,  he  continued  to  strike  out  for 
the  shore,  which  he  reached  in  safety.  His  wound 
could  not  have  been  very  severe,  for  it  was  not  long 
before  he  was  again  engaged  in  fighting  the  Tories. 

Two  years  after  this,  Captain  Huddy  was  once 
more  obliged  to  hold  a  fort  against  a  superior  body 
of  Tories,  —  this  time  a  rude  structure  of  logs,  or 
blockhouse,  near  Tom's  River,  close  to  the  coast. 
His  garrison  consisted  of  twenty-five  men.  Here  he 
was  attacked  by  a  number  of  refugees,  some  of  them 
from  New  York,  and  some  from  the  neighborhood. 
They  gathered  from  various  quarters  during  the  night, 
and  early  on  a  Sunday  morning  they  made  a  united 
attack  on  the  blockhouse.  Huddy  and  his  men 
fought  bravely ;  but  when  their  ammunition  was  gone, 
and  seven  or  eight  of  them  were  killed,  he  was 
obliged  to  surrender. 

Now,  there  was  no  one  to  rescue  him,  and  he  was 
marched  away,  put  in  irons,  and  confined  in  the  hold 
of  a  prison  ship  anchored  off  the  coast.  The  state 
of  feeling  at  the  time  is  shown  by  the  way  in  which 
the  commander  of  this  expedition  speaks  of  the  vil- 
lage of  Tom's  River;  for  he  says,  "The  Town,  as  it 
is  called,  consists  of  about  a  dozen  houses,  in  which 
none  but  a  piratical  set  of  banditti  reside." 

What  afterwards  happened  to  the  captain  was  the 
result  of  a  chain  of  events  which  could  only  have 
occurred  in  a  country  where  neighbors  and  former 
friends  were  arrayed  in  bloody  conflict  against  each 


I48 

other.  A  prominent  Tory  of  that  neighborhood,  named 
White,  had  been  captured  by  the  patriots,  and  it  hap- 
pened that  the  father  of  one  of  White's  guards  had 
been  murdered  by  a  party  of  Tories  of  whom  White 
was  a  member.  White  was  shot  soon  after  his  cap- 
ture ;  and  it  was  generally  believed  that  he  had  been 
killed  by  this  guard,  who  wished  to  avenge  his  father's 
death. 

Thus  one  murder  led  to  another,  but  the  bloody 
business  had  not  yet  gone  far  enough.  The  friends 
of  White  were  determined  to  avenge  his  death,  and 
could  think  of  no  better  way  of  doing  it  than  by 
killing  Captain  Huddy.  The  Tories  wished  to  get 
rid  of  him  anyway,  and  here  was  a  reason  which 
was  considered  good  enough  in  those  days  of  furious 
animosity  between  fellow-countrymen.  It  was  not 
long,  therefore,  before  Huddy  was  taken  from  his 
prison,  and,  without  even  a  show  of  a  trial,  was  con- 
demned to  death.  It  was  said  that  he  assisted  in 
the  killing  of  White ;  and  although  he  asserted  boldly 
that  this  was  an  absurd  charge,  as  he  was  in  prison 
at  the  time  White  was  shot;  the  Tories  would  not 
listen  to  any  such  plea.  They  were  determined  to 
kill  him,  and  die  he  must. 

He  was  taken  on  shore  at  Sandy  Hook,  and  on 
the  beach  a  rude  gallows  was  constructed  of  three 
fence  rails,  and  there  he  was  hung.  Before  he  died, 
he  wrote  his  will,  resting  the  paper  on  the  top  of  a 
flour  barrel ;  and  it  is  said  that  his  handwriting  was 
as  firm  and  legible  as  if  he  had  been  sitting  at  a 
table  in  his  own  house. 


149 

This  inhuman  and  lawless  execution  of  a  man  so 
well  known  and  of  such  good  reputation  as  Captain 
Huddy,  created  great  indignation  in  the  patriotic 
party  all  over  the  country,  and  there  was  a  general 
demand  that  the  British  army  should  deliver  up  a 
man  named  Lippencot,  who  had  been  the  leader  of 
the  party  which  had  hung  Huddy ;  but  the  British 
did  not  consent  to  this.  They  did  make  a  show  of 
investigating  the  matter;  and  Lippencot,  who  was  an 
officer  of  a  refugee  regiment  regularly  enlisted  in 
the  British  service,  was  tried  by  court-martial.  But 
he  was  acquitted ;  and  no  satisfaction  was  offered  to 
the  Americans  for  this  crime,  which  had  been  com- 
mitted in  open  defiance  of  the  laws  of  war. 

But  the  British  commander  in  chief,  who  arrived 
about  this  time,  was  a  man  of  honor  and  good  sense, 
and  he  openly  condemned  the  action  of  Lippencot 
and  his  men,  and  assured  the  Americans  that  he 
would  do  what  he  could  to  further  investigate  the 
matter. 

This,  however,  did  not  satisfy  the  country,  and 
from  every  side  there  came  demands  that  some  one 
of  the  officers  who  were  then  prisoners  in  the  Amer- 
ican lines  should  be  executed  in  retaliation  for  Hud- 
dy's  murder,  unless  Lippencot  were  delivered  up  to 
the  Americans.  Here,  then,  opened  the  fourth  act  of 
this  bloody  play  of  progression,  and  we  will  tell  the 
story  of  the  other  captain. 

It  is  a  horrible  thing  to  deliberately  execute  an 
innocent  man  because  some  one  else  has  committed 
a  crime ;  but  war  is  horrible,  and  we  must  expect 


150 


that  horrible  things  will  continually  spring  from  it. 
As  no  satisfaction  could  be  obtained  from  the  British 
for  this  acknowledged  outrage  and  murder,  —  for  in 
acquitting  Lippencot  the  British  authorities  virtually 
took  upon  themselves  the  responsibility  of  Huddy's 
execution,  —  the  Americans,  being  at  war  and  acting 
in  accordance  with  the  bloody  rules  of  war,  deter- 
mined to  select  an 
officer  from  among 
the  English  pris- 
oners in  the  Amer- 
ican lines,  who 
should  be  executed 
in  retaliation  for 
Huddy's  death. 

As  soon  as  this 
order  had  been  is- 
sued, thirteen  Brit- 
ish officers,  who 
were  at  liberty  on 
parole  in  the  Amer- 
ican lines,  were  ordered 
to  report  at  Lancaster,  Penn., 
in  order  that  one  of  them  might  be  selected  to  be  the 
victim  of  retaliation. 

These  officers  were  assembled  in  a  room  of  the 
Black  Bear  Tavern  with  several  American  officers, 
who  conducted  the  proceedings,  and  a  guard  of 
mounted  dragoons  was  stationed  outside. 

The  question  was  to  be  decided  by  lot  according 
to  the  following  plan:  the  thirteen  names  of  the  offi- 


cers  were  written  each  upon  a  little  slip  of  paper, 
and  these  were  put  into  a  hat.  Then  in  another  hat 
were  placed  thirteen  other,  slips  of  the  same  size,  all 
of  them  blank  excepting  one,  on  which  was  written 
the  word  "unfortunate."  Two  drummer  boys  were 
called  in  to  draw  out  the  slips,  one  from  one  hat, 
the  other  from  the  other.  As  one  boy  drew  out  the 
piece  of  paper  and  read  the  name  of  the  officer 
written  upon  it,  the  other  boy  at  the  same  time  drew 
a  slip  from  the  other  hat.  After  several  drawings, 
in  which  the  slips  from  the  second  hat  had  all  been 
blank,  one  of  the  boys  drew,  and  read  upon  the  little 
piece  of  paper  the  name  of  Captain  Asgill,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  other  boy  drew  out  a  slip,  and 
read  the  word  "unfortunate."  This  decided  the  mat- 
ter; and  the  American  officer  in  command  turned  to 
the  leader  of  the  dragoons  and  said  to  him,  "This 
gentleman,  sir,  is  your  prisoner." 

Now  this  most  tragical  meeting  broke  up,  and  we 
are  told  that  every  man  in  that  room,  except  Captain 
Asgill  himself,  was  in  tears.  The  truly  unfortunate 
man  who  had  been  chosen  by  this  most  doleful 
chance  was  a  handsome  young  gentleman,  scarcely 
more  than  a  boy.  He  was  beloved  by  every  one 
who  knew  him,  and  he  would  have  been  the  last 
man  to  have  consented  to  any  such  deed  as  that  for 
which  he  was  to  pay  the  penalty.  When  it  became 
known  that  he  had  been  selected  by  fate  to  be  exe- 
cuted in  retaliation,  every  one  who  knew  anything 
about  him,  either  in  the  British  army  or  the  Ameri- 
can, deeply  deplored  the  fact  that  the  doom  should 


152 

have  fallen  on  one  who  so  little  deserved  it.  Captain 
Asgill  was  taken  to  Philadelphia,  and  after  a  while 
was  carried  to  New  Jersey,  where  in  Chatham,  Morris 
County,  he  was  held  to  await  his  end. 

Washington  himself  was  greatly  affected  by  this 
event;  and  he  wrote  to  the  colonel  who  had  charge 
of  Captain  Asgill,  to  treat  the  unfortunate  young 
man  with  all  tenderness  and  respect  while  he  should 
be  in  his  hands,  and  to  do  everything  for  him  that 
was  consistent  with  propriety  under  the  circum- 
stances. 

Now,  there  came  from  many  parts  of  this  country, 
as  well  as  from  the  English,  all  sorts  of  communica- 
tions and  memorials  addressed  to  the  government  and 
the  commander  of  the  army,  urging  clemency  in  the 
case  of  this  unfortunate  young  man ;  and  it  was  no 
doubt  in  consequence  of  these,  that  his  punishment 
was  delayed  from  time  to  time. 

Captain  Asgill's  mother  was  a  lady  of  good  position 
in  England,  and,  overwhelmed  with  grief  at  the  im- 
pending fate  of  her  son,  she  spared  no  efforts  to  save 
him.  She  wrote  to  every  man  of  influence  whom  she 
knew ;  and  among  others  she  wrote  to  the  Count  de 
Vergennes,  who  was  in  this  country  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  court  of  France. 

The  French,  who  had  been  the  faithful  friends  of 
the  Americans  throughout  the  struggle,  were  as  will- 
ing to  assist  their  allies  to  be  merciful  and  forgiving 
as  they  were  to  help  them  fight  their  battles.  The 
ambassador  addressed  a  strong  letter  to  Congress, 
urging  that  young  Captain  Asgill  might  be  spared, 


153 

and  sending  a  copy  of  the  letter  written  by  the  heart- 
broken  mother. 

Still  war  is  war;  and  one  of  its  laws  is,  that,  if  a 
prisoner  is  unjustly  killed  by  an  enemy,  one  of  the 
enemy's  men  held  as  prisoner  shall  be  killed  in  re- 
taliation, the  object  being,  of  course,  to  put  a  stop  to 
unjust  executions.  With  this  law  in  view,  Congress 
did  not  consent  to  countermand  the  young  man's 
execution. 

Captain  Asgill  had  another  friend,  a  powerful  one, 
who  did  all  that  he  could  to  save  him  from  his  impend- 
ing fate.  .  This  was  General  Washington,  who  from 
the  first  had  pitied  the  young  man  on  account  of  his 
youth  and  general  character;  but  he  had  also  objected 
to  the  selection  for  the  reason  that  he  had  been 
among  the  officers  who  surrendered  with  Lord  Corn- 
wallis,  who  had  been  promised  that  they  should  not 
be  dealt  with  as  hostages.  There  were  other  prison- 
ers who  might  have  been  more  justly  taken  as  sub- 
jects of  retaliation,  but  for  some  reason  the  thirteen 
officers  who  had  been  summoned  to  this  trial  by  lot 
were  not  among  those  who  were  justly  liable  in  the 
case.  Washington  felt  that  the  selection  of  Asgill 
was  a  breach  of  good  faith,  and  he  did  all  that  he 
could  to  induce  the  secretary  of  war  to  act  justly 
and  honorably  in  the  matter.  At  all  events,  the 
efforts  in  behalf  of  the  young  officer  had  the  effect 
of  delaying  the  execution;  and  three  months  after  his 
fatal  lot  had  been  drawn,  he  was  allowed  to  go  to 
Morristown  and  remain  there  a  prisoner  on  parole. 

Not   long   after   this,  another   reason  arose  for  the 


154 

pardon  of  Captain  Asgill,  which  was  used  with  effect 
by  his  friends.  Peace  was  now  approaching,  and  there 
was  no  need  of  the  execution  of  hostages  in  order  to 
prevent  further  outrages  on  the  part  of  the  enemy ;  and 
so  the  members  of  Congress  began  to  feel  that  after 
this  long  delay,  and  the  approaching  general  rejoicing 
in  the  success  of  American  independence,  it  would 
seem  like  murder  to  execute  this  young  man.  There- 
fore a  law  was  passed  by  Congress,  directing  that 
Captain  Asgill  should  be  set  at  liberty  and  allowed 
to  return  to  his  family. 

Dreadful  months  of  suspense  and  fearful  anticipa- 
tion had  darkened  the  souls  of  this  young  soldier,  his 
family,  and  his  friends ;  but  they  had  probably  pro- 
duced a  better  effect  upon  the  minds  of  the  lawless 
bands  of  Tory  refugees  than  would  have  resulted  had 
the  execution  taken  place ;  for,  had  Captain  Asgill  been 
hung,  there  is  no  doubt  that  an  American  prisoner 
would  have  suffered  in  his  place ;  and  how  many  more 
steps  in  the  bloody  business  of  retaliation  would  have 
taken  place,  no  man  can  tell.  So,  if  we  look  at  the 
matter  philosophically,  it  may  have  been  a  very  good 
thing  that  the  British  officer  selected  to  atone  for  the 
death  of  Captain  Huddy  happened  to  be  a  young  man 
whom  nobody  wished  to  kill,  for  the  merciful  delay 
exercised  in  his  case  was  the  probable  cause  of  the 
cessation  of  retaliation  during  the  last  months  of  the 
Revolution. 


THE   STORY   OF   TEMPE   WICK. 

THERE  are  so  many  curious  and  unexpected  things 
which  may  happen  in  time  of  war,  especially  to 
people  who  live  in  parts  of  a  country  where  the  enemy 
may  be  expected  to  come,  or  where  the  friendly  army 
is  already  encamped,  that  it  is  impossible  to  guard 
against  unpleasant  occurrences ;  and  it  often  happens 
that  the  only  thing  to  be  depended  upon  when  an 
emergency  arises,  is  presence  of  mind,  and  quickness 
of  wit. 

In  these  qualities,  New  Jersey  girls  have  never 
shown  themselves  behind  their  sisters  of  other  parts 
of  the  country,  and  a  very  good  proof  of  this  is  shown 
by  an  incident  which  took  place  near  Morristown 
during  the  time  that  the  American  army  was  quar- 
tered in  that  neighborhood. 

Not  far  from  the  town  was  a  farm  then  known  as 
Wick's  farm,  situated  in  a  beautiful  wooded  country. 
The  daughter  of  Mr.  Wick,  named  Tempe  (probably 
short  for  Temperance),  was  the  owner  of  a  very  fine 
horse,  and  on  this  beautiful  animal  it  was  her  delight 
to  ride  over  the  roads  and  through  the  woods  of  the 
surrounding  country.  She  had  been  accustomed  to 

'55 


i  S6 

horses  since  she  was  a  child,  and  was  not  afraid  to 
ride  anywhere  by  herself. 

When  she  first  began  to  canter  over  these  hills  and 
dales,  it  had  been  in  times  of  peace,  when  there  was 
nothing  in  this  quiet  country  of  which  any  one  might 
be  afraid ;  and  now,  although  these  were  days  of  war, 
she  felt  no  fear.  There  were  soldiers  not  far  away, 
but  these  she  looked  upon  as  her  friends  and  pro- 
tectors; for  Washington  and  his  army  had  encamped 
in  that  region  to  defend  the  country  against  the 
approach  of  the  enemy.  If  any  straggling  Redcoats 
should  feel  a  desire  to  come  along  the  hills,  they  would 
be  very  apt  to  restrain  their  inclinations  so  long  as 
they  knew  that  that  brave  American  army  was  en- 
camped near  by. 

So  Miss  Tempe  Wick,  fearing  nothing,  rode  far 
and  wide,  as  she  had  been  in  the  habit  of  doing,  and 
every  day  she  and  her  good  steed  became  better  and 
better  acquainted  with  each  other. 

One  fine  afternoon,  as  Tempe  was  slowly  riding 
homeward,  within  a  mile  of  her  house,  she  met  half 
a  dozen  soldiers  in  Continental  uniform,  and  two  of 
them,  stepping  in  front  of  her,  called  upon  her  to 
stop.  When  she  had  done  so,  one  of  them  seized  her 
bridle.  She  did  not  know  the  men ;  but  still,  as  they 
belonged  to  Washington's  army,  who  were  her  country- 
men and  friends,  she  saw  no  reason  to  be  afraid,  and 
asked  them  what  they  wanted. 

At  first  she  received  no  answer,  for  they  were  very 
busily  occupied  in  looking  at  her  horse  and  express- 
ing their  satisfaction  at  the  fine  points  of  the  ani- 


157 

mal.  Tempe  had  had  her  horse  praised  before;  but 
these  men  were  looking  at  him,  and  talking  about  him, 
very  much  as  if  he  were  for  sale  and  they  were  think- 
ing of  buying.  Presently  one  of  the  men  said  to  her 
that  this  was  a  very  excellent  horse  that  she  was 
riding,  and  they  wanted  it.  To  this  Tempe  exclaimed, 
in  great  amazement,  that  it  was  her  own  horse,  that 
she  wanted  him  herself,  and  had  no  wish  to  dispose  of 
him.  Some  of  the  soldiers  laughed,  and  one  of  them 
told  her  that  the  troops  were  about  to  move,  and 
that  good  horses  were  greatly  needed,  and  that  they 
had  orders  to  levy  upon  the  surrounding  country  and 
take  horses  wherever  they  could  find  them. 

Now  was  Tempe  astonished  beyond  measure.  If 
half  a  dozen  British  soldiers  had  surrounded  her,  and 
had  declared  that  they  intended  to  rob  her  of  her 
horse,  she  would  not  have  wondered  at  it,  for  they 
would  have  taken  it  as  the  property  of  an  enemy. 
But  that  the  soldiers  of  her  own  country,  the  men  on 
whom  she  and  all  her  friends  and  neighbors  depended 
for  protection  and  safety,  should  turn  on  her  and  rob 
her,  as  if  they  had  been  a  set  of  marauding  Hessians, 
was  something  she  could  scarcely  comprehend. 

But  it  did  not  take  her  long  to  understand,  that  no 
matter  who  they  were  or  what  they  were,  —  whether 
they  thought  they  had  a  right  to  do  what  they  threat- 
ened, or  whether  they  had  no  regard  for  right  and 
justice,  —  they  were  in  earnest,  and  intended  to  take 
her  horse.  When  this  conviction  flashed  into  the  mind 
of  Tempe  Wick,  there  also  flashed  into  it  a  determina- 
tion to  show  these  men  that  a  Jersey  girl  had  a  will 


I58 

of  her  own,  and  that  if  they  wanted  her  property, 
they  would  have  to  do  a  great  deal  more  than  simply 
to  come  to  her  and  ask  her  to  hand  it  over  to  them. 

After  a  little  parley,  during  which  the  man  who 
held  her  bridle  let  go  of  it,  supposing  she  was  about 
to  dismount,  she  suddenly  gave  her  spirited  horse  a 
sharp  cut  with  the  whip,  dashed  between  two  of  the 
soldiers,  and,  before  they  could  comprehend  what  had 
happened,  she  was  off  and  away. 

As  fast  as  they  could  run,  the  soldiers  followed  her, 
one  or  two  of  them  firing  their  guns  in  the  air,  think- 
ing to  frighten  her  and  make  her  stop ;  but,  as  though 
she  had  been  a  deer  and  her  pursuers  ordinary  hunters, 
she  swiftly  sped  away  from  them. 

But  they  did  not  give  up  the  chase.  Some  of  them 
knew  where  this  girl  lived,  and  were  confident  that 
when  they  reached  her  house,  they  would  have  the 
horse.  If  they  had  known  it  was  such  a  fine  animal, 
they  would  have  come  after  it  before.  According  to 
their  belief,  good  horses  should  go  into  the  army,  and 
people  who  staid  at  home,  and  expected  other  people 
to  fight  for  them,  ought  to  be  willing  to  do  what  they 
could  to  help  in  the  good  cause,  and  at  least  give  their 
horses  to  the  army. 

As  Tempe  sat  upon  her  bounding  steed,  she  knew 
very  well  that  the  soldiers  could  never  catch  her ;  but 
her  heart  sank  within  her  as  she  thought  of  what  would 
happen  when  they  came  to  the  farm  and  demanded 
her  horse.  Running  away  from  them  was  only  post- 
poning her  trouble  for  a  little  while,  for  there  was 
no  one  about  the  place  who  could  prevent  those 


men  from  going  to  the 
barn  and  taking  away 
the  animal. 

It  would  be  of  no  use 
to  pass  her  house  and 
ride  on  and  on.  Where 
should  she  go  ?  She  must 
come  back  some  time,  and 
all  the  soldiers  would 
have  to  do  would  be  to 
halt  at  the  farm,  and  wait 
until  she  returned.  And 
even  if  she  should  take 
her  horse  into  the  wood 

and  tie  him  to  a  tree,  they  would  know  by  her  com- 
ing back  on  foot  that  she  had  left  him  at  no  great 
distance,  and  they  would  be  sure  to  follow  his  tracks 
and  find  him. 

As  Tempe  rode  swiftly  on,  her  thoughts  galloped 
as  fast  as  her  horse,  and  before  she  reached  the 
house  she  had  come  to  a  conclusion  as  to  the  best 
thing  to  be  done.  She  did  not  ride  towards  the 
barn,  but  dashed  through  the  gateway  of  the  large  . 
yard,  and  sprang  from  her  steed.  As  she  turned  in, 
she  looked  down  the  road ;  but  the  men  were  not  in 
sight.  What  she  was  going  to  do  was  something 
which  people  never  did,  but  it  was  the  only  thing 
she  could  think  of,  and  she  was  a  girl  whose  actions 
were  as  quick  as  her  ideas  were  original.  Without 
stopping  an  instant,  she  took  her  horse  to  the  back 
door,  and  led  him  boldly  into  the  house. 


160 

This  was  not  the  sort  of  stable  to  which  Tempe's 
horse  or  any  other  American  horse  was  accustomed ; 
but  this  animal  knew  his  mistress,  and  where  she 
led,  he  was  willing  to  follow.  If  one  of  the  farm 
hands  had  attempted  to  take  the  creature  into  the 
house,  there  would  probably  have  been  some  rearing 
and  plunging;  but  nothing  of  this  kind  happened  as 
our  Jersey  girl,  with  her  hand  on  her  horse's  bridle, 
led  him  quickly  inside  and  closed  the  door  behind 
him.  As  the  story  goes,  she  took  him  through  the 
kitchen,  and  then  into  the  parlor,  without  the  slight- 
est regard  to  the  injury  his  shoes  might  do  to  the 
well-kept  floor ;  and  from  the  parlor  she  led  him 
into  a  bedroom  on  the  lower  floor,  which  was  usually 
used  as  a  guest  chamber,  but  which  never  before 
had  such  a  guest  as  this. 

This  room  had  but  a  single  window,  the  shutters 
of  which  were  kept  closed  when  it  was  not  in  use, 
and  there  was  no  entrance  to  it  except  through  the 
door  4which  opened  from  the  parlor.  The  door  was 
quickly  closed,  'and  Tempe  stood  with  her  horse  in 
the  darkness. 

When  the  soldiers  reached  the  farm,  they  went  to 
the  barn.  They  examined  the  outhouses,  visited  the 
pasture  fields,  and  made  a  thorough  search,  high  and 
low,  near  and  far ;  but  no  sign  of  a  horse  could  they 
find.  Of  course,  the  notion  that  the  animal  was  con- 
cealed in  the  house  did  not  enter  their  minds,  and 
the  only  way  in  which  they  could  account  for  the 
total  disappearance  of  the  horse  was,  that  Tempe  had 
ridden  off  with  him  —  where  they  knew  not.  We  do 


not  know  how  long  they  waited  for  the  sight  of  a 
hungry  horse  coming  home  to  his  supper,  but  we  do 
know  that  while  there  was  the  slightest  danger  of 
her  dear  horse  being  taken  away  from  her,  that  ani- 
mal remained  a  carefully  attended  guest  in  the  spare 
room  of  the  Wick  house  ;  and  the  tradition  is,  that 


he  staid  there  three  weeks.  There  Tempe  waited 
on  him  as  if  he  had  been  a  visitor  of  high  degree; 
and  if  she  was  afraid  to  go  to  the  barn  to  bring  him 
hay  and  oats,  she  doubtless  gave  him  biscuit  and 
soft  bread,  —  dainties  of  which  a  horse  is  very  fond, 
especially  when  they  are  brought  to  him  by  such  a 
kind  mistress  as  Tempe. 

STO.  OF  N.J.  —  II 


162 


When  the  cavalry  moved  away  from  their  camp 
near  Morristown,  no  one  of  them  rode  on  that  fine 
horse  on  which  they  had  seen  a  girl  gayly  cantering, 
and  which,  when  they  had  been  about  to  put  their 
hands  upon  it,  had  flown  away,  like  a  butterfly  from 
under  the  straw  hat  of  a  schoolboy.  When  the 
troops  were  gone,  the  horse  came  out  of  the  guest 
chamber  and  went  back  to  his  stall  in  the  stable ; 
and  that  room  in  which  he  passed  so  many  quiet 
days,  and  the  door  through  which  the  horse  timidly 
stepped  under  the  shadow  of  that  hospitable  roof,  are 
still  to  be  seen  at  the  old  Wick  house,  which  stands 
now,  as  it  stood  then,  with  its  shaded  yard  and  the 
great  willow  tree  behind  it,  on  the  pleasant  country 
road  by  which  we  may  drive  from  Morristown  to 
Mendham  by  the  way  of  Washington  Corner. 


THE   STORY  OF   FORT   NONSENSE. 

POURING  three  years  of  the  Revolution  the  Amer- 
1— J  lean  army,  under  General  Washington,  wintered 
in  New  Jersey.  Of  course,  we  understand,  that,  when 
an  army  goes  into  winter  quarters,  it  does  so  because 
the  weather  prevents  operations  in  the  field ;  and 
although  Washington  did  not  in  the  least  object  to 
fighting  in  the  cold  weather  if  a  good  opportunity 
showed  itself,  as  we  know  from  the  fact  that  he 
fought  the  battle  of  Trenton  on  Christmas  Day,  still 
the  winters  in  New  Jersey  were  for  the  most  part, 
periods  of  inactivity. 

Histories  give  us  full  accounts  of  the  important 
battles  and  marches  which  took  place  in  New  Jersey ; 
but  the  life  of  the  army  in  the  long,  cold  months 
in  which  fighting  and  marching  were  almost  impos- 
sible, is  something  with  which  we  are  not  so  well 
acquainted ;  and  when  we  understand  what  the  men 
of  our  army  were  obliged  to  suffer  and  to  endure, 
and  the  responsibilities  and  anxieties  which  were  so 
conscientiously  borne  by  Washington  and  his  officers, 
we  are  compelled  to  give  as  much  credit  to  the 
soldiers  of  the  Revolution  for  their  heroism  in  their 
winter  camps  as  for  their  courage  upon  the  battlefield. 

163 


164 

This  winter  life  in  New  Jersey,  of  men  and  officers 
from  New  England,  the  Middle  States,  Virginia,  and 
the  South,  appears  to  us  now  as  very  interesting,  and 
in  many  ways  a  curious  life.  Into  a  quiet  country 
neighborhood  there  came  an  entirely  novel  element,  — 
an  army  which  had  not  come  there  to.  fight,  but  to  live. 

Washington's  first  winter  in  New  Jersey  was  spent 
in  Morristown  in  1777.  This  place  was  chosen  be- 
cause it  was  a  productive  country,  and  well  situated" 
for  sudden  expeditions  against  the  enemy  in  that  part 
of  the  State.  Although  there  was  no  fighting  done 
in  Morristown,  so  many  small  detachments  of  troops 
went  out  from  the  place,  and  so  many  sudden  at- 
tacks were  made  upon  the  outposts  of  the  enemy  in 
the  country  round  about,  that  by  the  end  of  the 
winter  the  British  had  no  hold  in  New  Jersey  except 
at  Perth  Amboy  and  New  Brunswick. 

But,  as  has  been  said  before,  it  is  not  with  the 
military  operations  that  we  are  concerned,  but  with 
the  winter  life  of  the  army  in  the  camp.  The  first 
thing  that  has  to  be  done  when  an  army  arrives  to 
settle  and  make  itself  a  home  in  and  about  a  country 
town,  is  to  provide  a  good  house  for  the  commander 
in  chief  and  officers,  and  a  suitable  camping  place  for 
the  men.  Washington  went  to  Arnold's  Tavern,  a 
large  house  on  the  corner  of  the  Green ;  and  the 
army  encamped  in  the  valley  of  the  Loantika,  a 
beautiful  place  in  summer,  but  not  particularly  attract- 
ive in  cold  weather.  Here  they  built  themselves 
huts  of  logs,  and  here  they  tried  to  keep  themselves 
warm  and  to  be  satisfied  with  what  they  had ;  for  the 


i65 

government  was  poor,  and  found  it  hard  to  keep  an 
army.  There  was  plenty  to  eat  and  drink  in  the 
surrounding  country,  but  there  was  very  little  money 
with  which  to  buy  it. 

It  was  a  great  thing  for  the  Morristown  people  to 
see  the  tavern  surrounded  night  and  day  by  a  guard 
of  twenty-six  soldiers,  and  to  have  their  streets  and 
roads  made  lively  by  soldiers  on  foot,  clad  in  the 
various  uniforms  worn  by  the  men  from  different 
States,  —  some  with  cocked  hats,  some  with  round  hats 
with  feathers  stuck  in  them ;  some  with  green  coats, 
some  with  blue ;  some  with  buckskin  breeches,  others 
with  black,  —  while  Washington,  with  the  officers  of 
his  staff,  galloped  here  and  there,  dressed  in  the 
regular  Continental  uniforms  of  blue  and  buff. 

Among  the  most  conspicuous  uniforms  of  the  Amer- 
ican army  was  that  of  the  Jersey  Blues.  This  was 
a  volunteer  organization  formed  in  Essex  County ;  and 
the  first  uniforms  of  these  soldiers  were  furnished  by 
the  patriotic  women  of  that  region.  They  were  not 
able  to  afford  anything  handsome  or  costly :  so  each 
soldier  was  provided  with  a  frock  coat  and  trousers 
made  of  tow  cloth,  which  was  dyed  a  bright  blue  by 
the  same  women  who  made  it  into  soldiers'  clothes. 
These  Jersey  Blues,  although  they  must  have  pre- 
sented a  very  peculiar  appearance  in  the  field,  became 
famous  soldiers,  and  were  known  throughout  the  war, 
and  occupied  high  positions  in  the  Continental  army. 
The  Jersey  Blues  were  never  disorganized,  and  still 
remain  prominent  among  the  citizen  soldiers  of  the 
State. 


1 66 


It  was  Washington's  habit  dur- 
ing the  war,  as  soon  as  he  had 
settled  himself  in  his  winter  quar- 
ters, to  send  for  Mrs.  Washington  to  join  him;  and 
accordingly  she  came  to  Morristown  very  soon  after 
his  first  arrival  there.  Men  and  officers  were  always 
delighted  when  the  wife  of  the  commander  in  chief 
came  down  to  live  among  them,  and  they  welcomed 
the  sight  of  the  carriage  drawn  by  four  horses,  with 
the  postilions  and  grooms  dressed  in  Washington's 
own  livery  of  scarlet  and  white.  On  this  occasion, 
Washington  went  some  distance  to  meet  his  wife,  and 
waited  in  a  little  village  until  she  should  arrive. 


When  tne  lady  at  the  house  where  he  was  stopping 
saw  the  grand  carriage  drive  up,  she  was  prepared  to 
behold  an  illustrious  personage  alight  from  it,  and  she 
was  somewhat  surprised  when  she  saw  a  very  plainly 
dressed,  quiet  lady  step  down  from  the  high  coach. 
She  thought  there  surely  must  be  some  mistake  ;  but 
when  she  saw  the  courteous  affection  with  which  the 
grand  gentleman  in  the  fine  uniform  and  cocked  hat 
greeted  this  plainly  dressed  lady,  she  knew  that  she 
had  made  no  mistake. 

There  was  no  ostentation  or  superciliousness  about 
Mrs.  Washington.  She  was  hospitable  and  kind,  and 
she  put  on  no  airs  because  she  was  a  great  lady  from 
Virginia,  and  because  she  was  the  wife  of  the  com- 
mander in  chief  of  the  army.  The  story  is  told,  that, 
soon  after  her  arrival,  some  ladies  of  the  town  went  to 
pay  their  respects  to  her,  and  as  they  were  going 
to  visit  the  first  lady  of  the  land,  they  thought  that 
they  should  dress  themselves  in  their  finest  clothes. 
Arrayed  in  silks,  satins,  and  ruffles,  they  were  shown 
into  the  presence  of  Mrs.  Washington,  and  were  utterly 
amazed  to  find  her  wearing  a  striped  homespun  apron, 
and  busily  engaged  in  knitting  stockings.  She  re- 
ceived them,  however,  with  as  much  dignity  and 
courtesy  as  if  she  had  had  a  crown  on  her  head  and 
a  scepter  in  her  hand ;  and  in  the  course  of  conver- 
sation she  said  that  it  was  the  duty  of  every  one  to 
try  to  do  without  the  things  which  they  were  obliged 
to  buy  from  foreign  countries,  and  to  make  for  them- 
selves, as  far  as  possible,  what  tney  needed ;  and  that, 
while  their  husbands  and  brothers  were  fighting  in  the 


i68 

field,  she  thought  that  they  should  do  what  they  could 
at  home  to  help  the  great  cause. 

Mrs.  Washington  entertained  the  ladies  with  accounts 
of  her  life  at  home.  She  said  that  in  her  house  there 
were  always  sixteen  spinning  wheels  at  work.  She 
showed  them  two  morning  dresses  which  had  been 
made  in  her  house  from  ravelings  of  old  satin  chair 
covers.  But  Mrs.  Washington  was  not  at  all  averse 
to  cheerfulness  and  good  company,  and  in  that  year 
there  were  many  dances  and  parties  in  Morristown, 
which  kept  the  place  quite  gay. 

Two  years  afterwards,  Washington  and  his  army 
wintered  at  Middlebrook,  in  Somerset  County.  Here 
the  army  had  a  comparatively  comfortable  time,  for 
the  weather  was  mild,  without  much  snow  or  frost; 
and  this,  after  the  terrible  sufferings  which  they  had 
had  at  Valley  Forge  the  winter  before,  was  very  well 
calculated  to  put  men  as  well  as  officers  in  a  cheerful 
state  of  mind.  It  is  true  that  the  difficulties  of  obtain- 
ing provisions  were  in  some  ways  greater  than  they  had 
been  before ;  for  the  Continental  money,  with  which 
all  supplies  were  paid  for,  was  depreciating  so  rapidly 
that  now  thirty  or  forty  dollars  of  it  were  barely  equal 
to  one  silver  dollar,  and  the  country  people  very  much 
disliked  to  take  it.  But  the  army  had  just  achieved 
some  important  victories,  and  there  was  a  feeling  in 
many  circles  that  it  would  not  be  long  before  the  war 
would  end ;  and  with  this  belief  in  the  minds  of  many, 
and  with  the  general  satisfaction  in  the  mild  and  pleas- 
ant weather,  it  is  no  wonder  that  there  were  some  good 
times  in  the  army  during  that  winter  at  Middlebrook. 


169 

General  Washington  always  liked  to  have  company 
at  dinner,  for  he  was  very  hospitable,  and,  besides 
this,  he  considered  it  his  duty  to  become  acquainted 
with  his  officers  and  with  the  people  of  the  neighbor- 
hood ;  and  sometimes  as  many  as  thirty  persons  sat 
down  at  the  table.  Even  if  the  various  articles  of 
food  were  not  of  the  finest  quality,  they  were  well 
cooked  and  well  served.  While  in  Middlebrook,  Wash- 
ington desired  a  dinner  service  of  white  queen's-ware, 
and  he  wrote  to  Philadelphia  to  obtain  it.  Among  the 
articles  he  mentioned  in  his  order  were  eight  dozen 
shallow  plates  and  three  dozen  soup  plates,  which 
gives  an  idea  of  the  size  of  his  dinner  parties.  But, 
although  Philadelphia  was  searched  from  one  end  to 
the  other,  no  queen's-ware  of  the  kind  could  be  found, 
and  at  last  Washington  was  told  that  he  could  get 
what  he  wanted  in  New  Brunswick,  and  there  he 
bought  his  queen's-ware. 

Among  other  things  which  he  ordered  at  that  time 
were  "  six  tolerably  genteel  but  not  expensive  candle- 
sticks;" and  he  also  wrote  for  a  new  hat,  stating,  "I 
do  not  wish  by  any  means  to  be  in  the  extreme  of 
fashion,  either  in  the  size  or  manner  of  cocking  it." 

At  these  dinners  there  was  a  good  deal  of  state 
and  ceremony,  although  the  heads  of  the  family  were 
very  courteous  and  attentive  to  their  guests.  As  this 
was  a  military  establishment,  everything  was  done 
promptly  and  according  to  rule.  Washington  never 
waited  longer  than  five  minutes  for  any  guest  who 
was  late.  When  such  a  person  did  arrive  after  the 
company  had  seated  themselves  at  the  table,  he  would 


always  try  to  put  him  at  his  ease  by  some  pleasant 
remark,  sometimes  saying  that  he  had  a  cook  "who 
never  asks  whether  the  company  has  come,  *  but 
whether  the  hour  has  come." 

During  this  winter  a  great  entertainment  was  given 
by  General  Knox  and  some  other  officers,  and  it  was 

said  to  be  the  finest  thing  of 
the  kind  ever  seen  in  that 
part  of  the  State.     It  may 
be  thought,    and  probably 
there    were    people    who 
thought  it   then,  that   at 
a  time  when  money  was 
so    much    needed,    and 
provisions  were  so  hard 

'!2F"  '^•PPSnK^K    to  get'  a  great  and  expen" 

fyg$  \ "'     i-/^^^^^'   sive  festival   like  this  was 

extravagant  and  out  of  place  ; 
^       but  it  is  likely  that  the  gayety 
of  that  great  day  had  a  good 
1    and  encouraging  effect  upon  the 
army    as    well  as  the  people  of 
the    country.     They    knew    why 
the  day  had  been  celebrated,  and 

because  of  the  general  rejoicings  they  believed  there 
was  reason  to  rejoice ;  and  when  people  believe  that 
there  is  a  good  thing  coming,  they  are  much  more 
ready  to  fight  for  it  than  if  they  had  no  such  belief. 

But  it  is  not  of  these  two  winters  that  our  story 
has  to  deal :  it  is  with  the  second  encampment  at 
Morristown,  during  the  cold,  the  snow,  and  the  icy 


frosts  of  1779-80.  At  this  time,  General  and  Mrs. 
Washington  lived  in  the  handsome  house  which  is  now 
known  as  "  Washington's  Headquarters,"  and  has  been 
preserved  in  the  same  condition  as  it  was  in  those 
Revolutionary  days.  In  this  fine  old  mansion,  General 
Washington  and  his  wife  kept  up  their  hospitable 
customs;  and  at  their  table  were  seen  such  men  as 
Alexander  Hamilton,  General  Greene,  Baron  Steuben, 
Kosciusko,  Pulaski,  "  Light  Horse  Harry  "  Lee,  Israel 
Putnam,  "  Mad  Anthony  "  Wayne,  and  Benedict  Arnold. 
There  also  came  to  Morristown  the  minister  from 
France  (the  Chevalier  de  la  Luzerne)  and  an  envoy 
from  Spain  (Don  Juan  de  Mirailles).  These  two  dis- 
tinguished foreigners  were  received  with  great  honor. 
An  escort  was  sent  out  to  meet  them ;  there  was  a 
grand  review  of  the  troops,  in  which  Washington  and 
his  generals,  together  with  the  Frenchman  and  the 
Spaniard,  appeared  on  the  field,  splendidly  mounted ; 
while  on  the  grand  reviewing  stand  was  the  governor 
of  the  State  and  a  great  many  citizens  and  distin- 
guished people.  After  a  salute  of  thirteen  cannon,  the 
parading  army  went  through  its  evolutions,  and  in  the 
evening  there  was  a  grand  ball. 

But  one  of  the  guests  to  whom  these  honors  were 
given  did  not  appear  at  the  ball.  The  Spanish  envoy 
was  taken  sick,  and  a  few  days  afterwards  died  at 
the  headquarters.  He  was  buried  with  great  pomp 
and  ceremony.  The  funeral  procession  was  a  mile 
long,  and  attended  by  Washington  and  all  his  officers. 
Minute  guns  boomed  as  the  procession  passed  from 
the  headquarters  to  the  graveyard  at  the  back  of  the 


172 


First  Presbyterian  Church,  and  people  came  from  all 
parts  of  the  surrounding  country  to  view  the  great 
procession. 

The  funeral  services  were  conducted  by  a  Spanish 
priest  with  the  impressive  rites  of  the  Catholic  Church ; 
and  after  a  military  salute  had  been  fired  over  the 
grave,  sentinels  were  placed  to  guard  it,  for 
the  Spanish  nobleman  was  buried  in  full 
regalia.  A  gold  watch  studded  with 
diamonds  was  in  his  pocket ; 
diamonds  were  on  his  fin- 
gers; and  valuable  seals 
were  attached  to  his 
watchguard. 

There  was  not  so 
much  fear  at  this 
time  of  an  at- 
tack from  the 
enemy  as  there 
had  been  during 
the  previous  winter, 
when  Washington  was 
at  Morristown.  Now,  there  were  only 
four  guards  at  the  headquarters,  —  two 
at  the  front  of  the  house,  and  two  at  the  back.  But 
the  most  careful  preparations  were  made  in  case  the 
enemy  should  show  itself,  and  now  and  then  a  false 
alarm  showed  the  perfection  of  the  discipline  which 
was  maintained. 

On    such    occasions    a    shot   would    be    heard   from 
one  of  the  most  distant  outposts,  then  u  sentinel  near 


173 

the  town  would  fire,  and  so  on  until  a  report  would 
be  heard  by  the  sentinels  at  the  headquarters,  who 
would  fire  their  guns ;  then  there  were  the  guns  in 
Morristown,  and  so  on  out  to  the  camp,  and  very  soon 
a  detachment  would  hurry  into  the  town  at  a  quick- 
step. But  before  they  reached  the  place,  the  life  guard 
encamped  near  the  headquarters  would  rush  to  the 
house,  enter  the  lower  story,  and  barricade  the  doors ; 
and  five  men  at  each  window,  with  muskets  loaded  and 
ready  to  fire,  would  await  the  approach  of  the  enemy. 

But  although  no  British  soldiers  ever  reached 
Morristown,  there  was  good  reason  for  all  the  pre- 
cautions taken.  Besides  the  frequent  attempts  which 
were  made  by  large  bodies  of  the  Redcoats  to  penetrate 
to  the  region  occupied  by  Washington's  army,  there 
were  small  expeditions  even  more  dangerous.  One  of 
these  consisted  of  a  party  of  picked  British  cavalry- 
men, who  started  from  their  camp  near  New  York, 
by  way  of  Elizabethtown,  for  the  express  purpose  of 
capturing  General  Washington.  They  advanced  in  the 
direction  of  Morristown  until  they  reached  Chatham, 
about  six  miles  distant,  and  there  —  being  overtaken  by 
a  terrible  storm,  and  finding  so  many  difficulties  ahead 
of  them  —  they  gave  up  their  project. 

Outside  of  Morristown,  on  a  high  hill  which  stretches 
away  to  the  southwest,  the  American  army  was  en- 
camped during  this  winter.  Among  these  men  we 
can  scarcely  believe  there  were  many  festivities  or 
merrymakings.  In  fact,  the  sufferings  and  privations 
of  the  common  soldiers  at  this  time  were  very  great, 
and  even  the  table  of  the  commander  in  chief  was 


174 

sometimes  furnished  with  the  plainest  of  food.     In  a 
letter  written  by  Washington  at  this  time,  he  says, — 

"We  have  had  the  virtue  and  patience  of  the  army  put  to  the 
severest  trial.  Sometimes  it  has  been  five  or  six  days  together 
without  bread ;  at  other  times  as  many  days  without  meat ;  and 
once  or  twice,  two  or  three  days  without  either.  I  hardly  thought 
it  possible,  at  one  period,  that  we  should  be  able  to  keep  it  together, 
nor  could  it  have  been  done,  but  for  the  exertions  of  the  magistrates 
in  the  several  counties  of  this  state  [Jersey],  on  whom  I  was  obliged 
to  call,  expose  our  situation  to  them,  and  in  plain  terms  declare  that 
we  were  reduced  to  the  alternative  of  disbanding  or  catering  for 
ourselves,  unless  the  inhabitants  would  afford  us  their  aid.  I  allotted 
to  each  county  a  certain  proportion  of  flour  or  grain,  and  a  certain 
number  of  cattle,  to  be  delivered  on  certain  days ;  and  for  the  honor 
of  the  magistrates,  and  the  good  disposition  of  the  people,  I  must 
add  that  my  requisitions  were  punctually  complied  with,  and  in 
many  counties  exceeded.  Nothing  but  this  great  exertion  could 
have  saved  the  army  from  dissolution  or  starving,  as  we  were  bereft 
of  every  hope  from  the  commissaries.  At  one  time  the  soldiers  ate 
every  kind  of  horse  food  but  hay.  Buckwheat,  common  wheat,  rye, 
and  Indian  corn  composed  the  meal  which  made  their  bread.  As 
an  army,  they  bore  it  with  the  most  heroic  patience ;  but  sufferings 
like  these,  accompanied  by  the  want  of  clothes,  blankets,  etc.,  will 
produce  frequent  desertions  in  all  armies ;  and  so  it  happened  with 
us,  though  it  did  not  excite  a  single  mutiny." 

At  this  time,  various  circulars  and  printed  bills  were 
sent  to  the  American  army  from  the  British,  urging 
the  men  to  fly  from  all  their  hardships  and  miseries, 
and  join  the  English  force,  where  they  would  be  re- 
ceived, and  furnished  with  every  comfort.  In  this 
condition  of  things  it  was  very  important  to  keep  the 
American  soldiers,  cold,  hungry,  and  idle,  from  think- 
ing too  much  of  their  troubles.  Washington  could  not 
give  them  balls,  nor  invite  them  to  dine ;  but  he  wisely 
considered  that  the  best  thing  he  could  give  them 


175 

was  occupation,  —  a  most  wonderful  medicine  for  dis- 
content. He  therefore  determined  to  build  a  fort  upon 
the  summit  of  the  hill  where  the  camp  was  situated. 

His  engineers  therefore  planned  a  large  fortification 
made  up  of  earthworks ;  and  on  this  the  men  were  put 
to  work,  as  if  it  had  been  expected  that  the  enemy 
would  soon  arrive,  and  take  the  place.  The  desire  to 
put  their  camp  in  a  condition  of  defense,  and  the 
animation  of  steady  labor,  were  of  as  much  advantage 
to  the  spirits  of  the  soldiers  as  bread  and  meat  would 
be  to  their  bodies ;  and,  from  sitting  in  idle  groups 
about  their  camp  fires  and  huts,  they  worked  on  the 
new  intrenchments,  ramparts,  and  redoubts  with  cheer- 
ful energy. 

Everything  was  done  exactly  as  if  the  new  fort 
were  soon  to  be  called  upon  to  protect  the  town,  which 
stretched  itself  beneath  the  hill ;  and  the  engineers  and 
officers  were  as  careful  in  making  plans  and  giving 
directions  as  if  they  had  been  building  a  fort  at  the 
entrance  of  New  York  Bay. 

It  was  never  expected  that  -the  fort  would  be  at- 
tacked, and  it  was  never  supposed,  that,  if  the  British 
should  come  this  way,  the  battle  would  be  fought  in 
or  about  the  town ;  but  the  building  of  the  fort  was 
honestly  intended  for  the  defense  and  protection  of 
the  troops,  not  against  muskets,  cannon,  and  bayonets, 
but  against  discontent  and  despair,  —  enemies  far  more 
formidable  to  the  suffering  army  of  that  day  than 
British  troops  and  Hessians. 

The  result  was  a  good  one  :  Washington's  army  at 
Morristown  stood  by  him  as  long  as  he  staid  there; 


176 

and  when  they  marched  away,  they  left  upon  the  top 
of  that  hill  a  monument  to  the  wisdom,  the  kindness, 
and  the  knowledge  of  human  nature,  displayed  by  their 
great  commander  in  chief  in  those  hazardous  days. 

We  do  not  know  what  this  earthwork  was  first 
called ;  but  in  time  it  came  to  be  known  as  Fort  Non- 
sense, simply  because  it  appeared  to  the  ordinary  man 
as  a  great  piece  of  work  undertaken  without  any  good 
purpose.  But  never  was  a  name  more  inapplicable. 
If  it  had  been  called  Fort  Good  Sense,  it  would  have 
been  much  more  suitable. 

The  remains  of  this  fort  are  still  to  be  seen  on  the 
hill  beyond  Morristown ;  and  a  monumental  stone  has 
been  set  up  there  to  mark  its  site,  and  explain  its 
nature  and  purpose.  Most  of  its  ramparts  and  re- 
doubts have  been  washed  away  by  the  storms  of  more 
than  a  century,  and  we  can  still  perceive  many  of  its 
outlines ;  but  those  skilled  in  the  art  of  military  fortifi- 
cation know  that  it  was  a  good  fortress,  while  stu- 
dents of  human  nature  and  of  the  influence  of  great 
minds  upon  the  welfare  of  their  fellow-beings,  know 
that  it  acted  an  important  part  in  the  defense  of  our 
liberties  and  the  establishment  of  our  government. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  in  this  story  we  have  said 
a  good  deal  about  other  things,  and  very  little  about 
Fort  Nonsense.  But  there  is  very  little  of  Fort  Non- 
sense, and  not  much  to  say  about  it;  and  what  has 
been  told  was  the  story  of  the  camp  life  of  Washing- 
ton and  his  army  in  New  Jersey,  the  most  permanent 
and  suggestive  point  of  which  is  the  earthwork  called 
Fort  Nonsense. 


AN   AMERICAN    LORD 

AMONG  the  principal  men  of  colonial  days  and  of 
Revolutionary  times,  there  were  many  whose 
social  positions  were  much  the  same  as  the  station  of 
the  ordinary  European  aristocrat.  From  their  ances- 
tors the  colonists  had  inherited  the  disposition  to 
recognize  differences  in  rank ;  and  men  of  wealth  and 
high  position  in  the  colonial  government  were  re- 
garded to  a  certain  extent  as  members  of  the  nobility 
are  regarded  in  England.  Before  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  it  was  not  even  assumed  in  this  country 
that  all  men  are  born  equal. 

But,  although  there  were  native-born  personages  in 
the  Colonies  who  might  well  be  termed  aristocrats,  their 
titles  were  political  or  military ;  and  an  American  lord 
was,  as  he  would  be  now,  something  entirely  out  of 
the  common. 

But  in  those  days  there  was  an  American  lord;  .and 
a  very  good  American  he  was,  in  spite  of  his  being 
a  lord.  This  was  William  Alexander,  known  as  Lord 
Stirling.  He  was  born  in  New  York,  of  Scotch 
parents.  When  he  was  quite  a  young  man,  he  went 
into  military  life,  and  served  in  the  British  colonial 
army  in  the  French  War.  In  the  campaigns  in  which 

STO.  OF  NJ. —  12  177 


1 78 

he  served,  he  gained  the  military  education  which  was 
afterwards  of  the  greatest  advantage,  not  only  to  him, 
but  to  the  country. 

There  was  no  British  heir  to  the  earldom  of  Stir- 
ling, a  Scotch  peerage ;  and,  as  he  believed  that  he 
was  a  direct  descendant  of  the  last  Lord  Stirling, 
the  young  man  went  to  England,  and  laid  claim  to  the 
estate  and  title.  He  was  successful  in  proving  his 
direct  descent  from  the  earls  of  Stirling;  but  the  House 
of  Lords,  who  gave  the  final  decision  in  the  case, 
would  not  allow  his  claim.  Even  if  the  law  had 
permitted  his  claim,  it  is  not  likely  that  the  British 
House  of  Lords  would  have  been  anxious  to  welcome 
into  the  peerage  an  American-born  person. 

But  although  he  got  nothing  more,  he  really  ob- 
tained his  title,  and  he  was  known  then,  as  he  is 
known  in  history,  as  Lord  Stirling.  He  was  a  man  of 
wealth,  and  must  have  had  a  very  good  time  in  Eng- 
land, for  he  studied  well  the  manners  and  customs  of 
the  nobility ;  and  as  his  own  habits  and  tastes  were 
those  which  he  observed  in  the  great  houses  of  Eng- 
land, he  here  received  a  social  education  which  had 
a  great  effect  upon  his  future  career. 

He  was  also  the  means  of  educating  some  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  way  in  which  he 
did  it  is  shown  by  a  little  incident  which  occurred 
when  he  was  visiting  Scotland.  He  was  invited  to 
dine  at  the  house  of  a  gentleman,  who  informed  his 
wife  that  an  American  was  coming  to  take  dinner  with 
them.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  this  announcement 
had  about  the  same  effect  upon  her  as  would  now  be 


179 

produced  if  an  American  gentleman  should  inform 
his  family  that  a  chief  from  Madagascar  was  to  dine 
with  them. 

The  Scotch  lady,  no  doubt,  expected  to  see  a  copper- 
colored  brave,  in  war  paint  and  feathers,  with  toma- 
hawk, and  bows  and  arrows,  and  perhaps  a  few  scalps 
hanging  from  his  belt.  Probably  she  had  busied  herself 
devising  a  dinner  which  would  suit  a  savage  who  was 
a  native  of  that  far-away  land  of  America,  and  hoped 
she  might  give  him  something  which  would  compen- 
sate him  for  the  loss  of  a  cannibal  repast;  but  when 
she  beheld  the  handsome  young  gentleman  who  came 
into  the  house  with  her  husband,  she  could  not  repress 
her  astonishment,  and  exclaimed,  "  Bless  my  soul ! 
The  animal  is  white."  Ignorance  of  foreign  countries 
was  at  that  time  not  uncommon  in  Great  Britain. 

Although  born  in  New  York,  Lord  Stirling  estab- 
lished himself  in  New  Jersey,  and  it  was  in  connec- 
tion with  this  State  that  he  was  afterwards  generally 
known.  His  father  had  owned  a  large  tract  of  land 
at  Basking  Ridge,  a  beautifully  situated  town  not  far 
from  Morristown ;  and  here  Lord  Stirling  built  him- 
self a  stately  mansion  with  fine  gardens,  and  a  great 
park  in  which  were  herds  of  deer.  It  was  built  in 
the  fashion  of  the  lordly  country  seats  of  England, 
around  a  courtyard  paved  with  flagstones,  and  con- 
tained grand  halls  and  stately  apartments  beautifully 
ornamented  and  furnished.  The  barns  and  outbuild- 
ings were  grand,  like  the  mansion  itself,  with  cupolas 
and  gilded  vanes,  and  altogether  the  establishment 
was  imposing  and  beautiful. 


i8o 

This   young    man    had   brought 
with  him  from   England  servants, 
butlers,  valets,   hairdressers,  and 
a  great  many  fine   horses,  and 
carriages  with  arms  emblazoned 


\ 


upon    their    panels.      He 
lived  in  grand  state,  and  his 
house  was  generally  filled  with 
guests;  for  the  best  people   of 
the    country   were   glad   to    visit 
this  beautiful  home,  where  the 
best  of  company  and  the  freest 
hospitality  were  always  to  be 
found.     The   lord   of  the 
manor   was   an    affable 
and    courteous    gentle- 
man, and  the  writers  of 
those    days    have    given 
glowing     accounts    of     the 
gracious    Lady    Stirling   and 
her  charming  daughter,  Lady  Kitty. 

But  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  he  felt  as  a  lord 
and  lived  as  a  lord,  this  grand  gentleman  never  forgot 


that  he  was  not  only  a  lord,  but  an  American;  and 
when  the  Colonies  began  to  assert  their  claim  to  inde- 
pendence, Lord  Stirling  promptly  showed  his  colors 
on  the  patriotic  side.  He  commanded  the  first  body 
of  troops  raised  in  New  Jersey  in  the  colonial  days, 
and  he  very  soon  became  one  of  the  most  prominent 
officers  in  the  Revolutionary  army. 

After  he  was  made  general,  he  distinguished  him- 
self at  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  where  he  performed 
some  daring  feats.  The  odds  were  greatly  against  the 
Americans  on  that  occasion,  and,  in  order  to  secure 
the  retreat  of  the  main  part  of  his  command,  Lord 
Stirling  took  four  hundred  men,  and  made  a  bold 
attack  upon  a  house  that  was  occupied  by  the  British 
general,  Cornwallis.  During  the  desperate  fight  which 
followed,  in  which  his  little  force  was  far  outnumbered 
by  the  enemy,  his  command  made  a  successful  retreat, 
but  he  himself  was  captured,  and  afterwards  impris- 
oned on  a  war  ship. 

But  he  did  not  stay  there  long.  Washington  could 
not  do  without  the  services  of  this  man,  who  was  not 
only  a  most  earnest  patriot,  but  an  educated  and  effi- 
cient soldier ;  and,  as  the  Americans  held  several 
English  officers  as  prisoners  of  war,  one  of  them  was 
exchanged,  with  the  least  possible  delay,  for  Lord 
Stirling. 

One  of  the  earliest  and  most  daring  exploits  of  this 
brave  soldier  was  the  capture,  by  an  infantry  force, 
of  an  armed  British  ship  which  was  on  its  way  to 
Boston  with  stores  and  supplies  for  the  English  army 
there. 


182 

This  vessel,  which  was  called  the  "  Blue  Mountain 
Valley,"  had  met  with  rough  weather,  and,  having  been 
badly  damaged,  was  lying  off  Sandy  Hook,  waiting 
lor  assistance  from  two  British  men-of-war  then  in 
New  York  Harbor. 

But  Lord  Stirling,  who  was  stationed  not  far  from 
the  coast,  and  -to  whom  the  situation  of  the  vessel 
became  known,  determined  that,  if  possible,  he  would 
get  to  this  valuable  storeship  before  the  enemy's  men- 
of-war  could  reach  her.  So,  with  a  number  of  the 
regular  soldiers  under  his  command,  and  some  volun- 
teers from  the  neighborhood,  he  put  out  to  sea  in 
some  small  craft,  one  of  them  a  pilot  boat.  The 
English  vessel  had  for  her  defense  six  guns,  and  was 
what  is  called  an  armed  transport,  but  Stirling's  men 
carried  only  ordinary  muskets.  However,  they  boldly 
attacked  the  vessel,  and  bearing  down  upon  her  as  if 
she  had  been  a  column  of  infantry,  in  spite  of  the 
cannon  and  guns  of  the  crew,  captured  her. 

As  soon  as  this  victory  had  been  won,  Lord  Stirling 
had  all  sails  set ;  and  the  "  Blue  Mountain  Valley " 
waited  no  longer  for  the  men-of-war  to  come  to  her 
assistance,  but  sailed  away  for  Perth  Amboy,  which 
was  in  possession  of  the  Americans.  Here  she  was 
found  to  be  a  most  valuable  prize,  although  Lord 
Stirling  was  sorry,  as  he  afterwards  stated  when  he 
made  his  report  to  Congress,  that  her  cargo  was  not 
arms,  instead  of  coal  and  provisions. 

Lord  Stirling  fought  well  in  the  battles  of  New 
Jersey.  At  Monmouth  he  especially  distinguished  him- 
self by  the  way  in  which  he  managed  the  artillery 


which  was  under  his  command  ;  and  it  is  said  that  the 
enemy  were  amazed  to  find  batteries  so  splendidly 
handled  in  the  ranks  of  the  Americans,  who  were  not 
supposed  by  most  British  officers  to  be  possessed  of 
great  military  ability,  although  the  erroneousness  of 
this  supposition  was  gradually  impressed  upon  their 
minds  as  the  war  went  on. 

Our  nobleman,  however,  had  given  another  proof  of 
his  ability  to  adapt  himself  to  military  circumstances. 
When  Washington  and  his  army  were  wintered  at 
Morristown,  there  was  an  evident  desire  among 
the  British  commanders  to  attack  him  at  that  place, 
and  there  was  constant  danger  of  an  advance  from  the 
forces  about  New  York.  Lord  Stirling  was  with  the 
troops  under  General  Greene,  defending  the  principal 
approaches  to  Morristown  on  the  east,  and  he  very 
often  had  fights  and  skirmishes  with  British  detach- 
ments sent  out  to  reconnoiter  the  country,  or  to  break 
into  the  American  lines. 

At  one  time  a  very  large  force,  led  by  Clinton, 
advanced  towards  Morristown ;  and  this  was  believed 
to  be  a  serious  and  determined  attempt  to  attack 
Washington,  whose  army  was  in  a  pretty  bad  plight, 
and  not  at  all  prepared  to  fight  large  bodies  of  well- 
appointed  troops.  Lord  Stirling,  with  the  other  officers 
of  the  regular  army,  aided  by  forces  of  militiamen 
greatly  excited  by  atrocities  which  had  been  committed 
by  the  British  troops  in  the  neighborhood,  made  a 
determined  stand  in  the  region  of  the  "Short  Hills," 
and  a  battle  was  fought  near  Springfield.  Although 
the  American  forces  were  not  able  to  defeat  the 


1 84 

British,  they  so  harassed  them,  placing  themselves  in 
all  the  passes  through  which  it  was  necessary  to  ad- 
vance, that  at  last  the  Redcoats  gave  up  the  attempt 
to  reach  Morristown,  and  retired  to  Elizabeth. 

Throughout  the  war,  this  gentleman  with  the  grand 
house,  the  park,  the  deer,  the  splendid  carriages,  the 
butlers,  and  the  hairdressers,  fought  as  earnestly  and  as 
patriotically  as  if  he  had  been  a  sturdy  farmer  who 
had  left  his  cornfield  for  the  battlefield,  with  an  old 
blunderbuss  over  his  shoulder.  Not  only  was  he  a 
good  soldier,  but  he  was  a  trustworthy  friend  to  the 
cause  of  the  Colonies  and  to  General  Washington ;  and 
it  is  said  that  it  was  through  his  means  that  the  con- 
spiracy among  some  of  the  officers  of  the  army  against 
General  Washington,  of  whom  they  were  jealous,  was 
discovered  and  broken  up. 

Officers  of  the  army  were  frequently  quartered  at 
his  house  at  Basking  Ridge,  where  they  found  most 
delightful  company ;  and  in  every  way  our  American 
lord  did  what  he  could  for  the  cause  and  the  people 
who  were  defending  it.  His  title  was  generally  rec- 
ognized; and  Washington,  who  was  very  particular  in 
regard  to  matters  of  rank  and  social  propriety,  always 
called  him  "  my  lord."  He  was  said  to  be  a  fine-look- 
ing man ;  in  fact,  he  and  Washington  were  of  more 
imposing  and  dignified  appearance  than  any  other 
officers  of  the  American  army. 

Of  course,  as  he  was  a  very  notable  person  among 
the  Continental  officers,  the  British  were  very  anxious 
to  capture  him.  In  1781,  when  he  was  in  command 
of  the  Northern  Department  at  Albany,  this  design 


i85 

of  the  enemy  came  very  near  being  carried  out,  but 
was  frustrated  by  the  faithful  services  of  one  of  those 
good  women  who  were  continually  turning  up  in  colo- 
nial history.  A  servant  girl  in  the  family  of  a  house 
near  Albany,  where  Lord  Stirling  was  staying,  had 
been  visiting  her  parents  during  the  day,  and  had  there 
heard  a  plot  of  the  Tories  of  the  neighborhood  to  cap- 
ture Lord  Stirling.  Being  of  a  patriotic  disposition,  she 
told  her  mistress  of  the  plot  as  soon  as  she  got  home  ; 
and  when  in  the  night  a  large  body  of  the  enemy  came 
to  the  house,  they  were  met  with  a  surprise. 

Lord  Stirling  had  not  gone  out  of  town  without 
taking  with  him  a  guard  of  dragoons ;  and  these  men, 
instead  of  being  quartered  at  a  distance,  as  the  Tories 
evidently  supposed  they  would  be,  had  all  been  brought 
into  the  house;  and  when  the  attack  was  made  in  the 
night,  the  bullets  and  pistol  balls  which  whizzed  and 
whistled  from  that  ordinarily  peaceful  mansion  aston- 
ished the  Tories,  who  fled. 

But  although  Lord  Stirling  did  so  much  for  Ameri- 
can independence,  he  did  not  live  to  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  it,  for  he  died  in  Albany,  while  still  in  command  of 
the  Northern  Department.  After  his  death,  the  estate 
at  Basking  Ridge  was  sold,  and  payment  for  it  was 
made  in  Continental  money,  which  afterwards  became 
of  almost  no  value ;  so  that  for  this  fine  property,  it 
might  be  said,  his  family  received  nothing  but  a  pile  of 
badly  printed  paper.  The  mansion  and  the  deer  park 
and  the  emblazoned  carriages  are  gone  and  forgotten ; 
but  the  brave  soldier,  who  gave  up  all  the  pleasures  of 
a  lordly  position  for  his  country,  will  live  in  history. 


MOLLY    PITCHER. 


A 


T  the  battle  of  Monmouth, 
where    Lord    Stirling    so 
distinguished   himself    for   the 
management   of    the    artillery, 
another  person  of  an  entirely 
different  station  in  life,  of  dif- 
ferent   nationality,    and    even 
different    sex,    played    a   very- 
notable  part  in  the  working  of 
the  American  cannon  on  that 
eventful  day. 

This  was  a  young  Irish- 
woman, wife  of  an  artillery- 
man. She  was  of  a  different 
disposition  from  ordinary 
women,  who  are  glad  enough 
to  hide  themselves  in  places 
of  safety,  if  there  is  any  fighting  going  on  in  their 
neighborhood.  Molly  was  born  with  the  soul  of  a 
soldier,  and,  although  she  did  not  belong  to  the  army, 
she  much  preferred  going  to  war  to  staying  at  home 
and  attending  to  domestic  affairs.  She  was  in  the 
habit  of  following  her  husband  on  his  various  marches, 

1 86 


187 

and  on  the  day  of  the  Monmouth  battle  she  was  with 
him  on  the  field. 

The  day  was  very  hot.  The  rays  of  the  sun  came 
down  with  such  force  that  many  of  the  soldiers  were 
taken  sick  and  some  died ;  and  the  constant  discharges 
of  musketry  and  artillery  did  not  make  the  air  any 
cooler.  Molly  devoted  herself  to  keeping  her  husband 
as  comfortable  as  possible,  and  she  made  frequent  trips 
to  a  spring  not  far  away  to  bring  him  water;  and  on 
this  account  he  was  one  of  the  freshest  and  coolest 
artillerymen  on  the  ground.  In  fact,  there  was  no 
man  belonging  to  the  battery  who  was  able  to  manage 
one  of  these  great  guns  better  than  Pitcher. 

Returning  from  one  of  her  trips  to  the  spring,  Molly 
had  almost  reached  the  place  where  her  husband  was 
stationed,  when  a  bullet  from  the  enemy  struck  the 
poor  man  and  stretched  him  dead,  so  that  Molly  had 
no  sooner  caught  sight  of  her  husband  than  she  saw 
him  fall.  She  ran  to  the  gun,  but  scarcely  had  reached 
it  before  she  heard  one  of  the  officers  order  the  cannon 
to  be  wheeled  back  out  of  the  way,  saying  that  there 
was  no  one  there  who  could  serve  it  as  it  had  been 
served. 

Now  Molly's  eyes  flashed  fire.  One  might  have 
thought  that  she  would  have  been  prostrated  with 
grief  at  the  loss  of  her  husband,  but,  as  we  have  said, 
she  had  within  her  the  soul  of  a  soldier.  She  had  seen 
her  husband,  who  was  the  same  to  her  as  a  comrade, 
fall,  and  she  was  filled  with  an  intense  desire  to 
avenge  his  death.  She  cried  out  to  the  officer  not 
to  send  the  gun  away,  but  to  let  her  serve  it;  and, 


i88 

scarcely  waiting  to  hear  what  he  would  say,  she  sprang 
to  the  cannon,  and  began  to  load  it  and  fire  it.  She 
had  so  often  attended  her  husband,  and  even  helped 
him  in  his  work,  that  she  knew  all  about  this  sort  of 
thing,  and  her  gun  was  managed  well  and  rapidly. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  it  would  be  a  very  strange 
.thing  to  see  a  woman  on  the  battlefield  firing  a  cannon ; 
but  even  if  the  enemy  had  watched  Molly  with  a  spy- 
glass, they  would  not  have  noticed  anything  to  excite 
their  surprise.  She  wore  an  ordinary  skirt,  like  other 
women  of  the  time;  but  over  this  was  an  artillery- 
man's coat,  and  on  her  head  was  a  cocked  hat  with 
some  jaunty  feathers  stuck  in  it,  so  that  she  looked 
almost  as  much  like  a  man  as  the  rest  of  the  soldiers 
of  the  battery. 

During  the  rest  of  the  battle,  Molly  bravely  served 
her  gun ;  and  if  she  did  as  much  execution  in  the 
ranks  of  the  Redcoats  as  she  wanted  to  do,  the  loss  in 
the  regiments  in  front  of  her  must  have  been  very 
great.  Of  course,  all  the  men  in  the  battery  knew 
Molly  Pitcher,  and  they  watched  her  with  the  greatest 
interest  and  admiration.  She  would  not  allow  any 
one  to  take  her  place,  but  kept  on  loading  and  firing 
until  the  work  of  the  day  was  done.  Then  the  officers 
and  men  crowded  about  her  with  congratulations  and 
praise. 

The   next   day   General    Greene   went  to   Molly,  - 
whom  he  found  in  very  much  the  condition  in  which 
she  had  left  the  battlefield,  stained  with  dirt  and  pow- 
der, with  her  fine  feathers  gone  and  her   cocked   hat 
dilapidated,  —  and  conducted  her,  just  as  she  was,  to 


General  Washington.  When  the  commander  in  chief 
heard  what  she  had  done,  he  gave  her  warm  words 
of  praise.  He  determined  to  bestow  upon  her  a  sub- 
stantial reward ;  for  any  one  who  was  brave  enough 
and  able  enough  to  step  in  and  fill  an  important  place, 
as  Molly  had  filled  her  husband's  place,  certainly  de- 
served a  reward.  It  was  not  according  to  the  rules  of 
war  to  give  a  commission  to  a  woman ;  but,  as  Molly 
had  acted  the  part  of  a  man,  Washington  considered 
it  right  to  pay  her  for  her  services  as  if  she  had  been 
a  man.  He  therefore  gave  her  the  commission  of  a 
sergeant,  and  recommended  that  her  name  be  placed 
on  the  list  of  half-pay  officers  for  life. 

Every  one  in  the  army  soon  came  to  hear  of  the 
exploit  of  Molly  Pitcher,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
she  was  called  Captain  Molly.  The  officers  of  the 
French  regiment  on  the  American  side  were  particu- 
larly pleased  with  this  act  of  heroism  in  a  woman, 
and  invited  Molly  to  review  their  troops;  and  as  she 
walked  down  the  long  line  of  soldiers,  nearly  every 
man  put  a  piece  of  money  in  the  cocked  hat  which 
she  held  in  her  hand. 

This  was  the  last  battlefield  on  which  Molly  Pitcher 
appeared,  but  it  had  not  been  her  first.  Not  long 
before,  she  had  been  with  her  husband  in  Fort  Clinton 
when  it  was  attacked  by  a  very  large  force  of  the  Brit- 
ish. After  a  vigorous  defense,  the  Americans  found 
that  it  was  impossible  to  defend  the  fort,  and  a  retreat 
was  ordered.  As  the  soldiers  were  rushing  out  of 
the  rear  of  the  fort,  Molly's  husband  turned  away 
from  his  gun,  threw  down  his  match,  —  a  piece  of 


190 

rope  soaked  in  combustible  substances,  and  slowly  burn- 
ing at  one  end-,  which  was  used  in  those  days  for 
discharging  cannon,  —  and  ran  for  his  life.  Molly 
prepared  to  follow  him ;  but  as  she  saw  the  glowing 
match  on  the  ground,  and  knew  that  her  husband's 
gun  was  loaded,  she  could  not  resist  the  desire  to  take 
one  more  crack  at  the  enemy.  So  she  stopped  for  an 


instant, 
picked  up 
the     match, 

touched  off  the  '  ^RjflHJBI 

gun,     and     dashed  i  |V/^ 

away  after  her  husband. 

The  cannon  which  then  blazed  out  in  the  face  of  the 
advancing  British  was  the  last  gun  which  the  Ameri- 
cans fired  in  Fort  Clinton. 

Molly  did  not  meet  with  the  reward  which  was  ac- 
corded so  many  other  Jersey  women  who  were  of 
benefit  to  their  State  and  country.  She  died  not  long 


after  the  close  of  the  war ;  and  if  she  had  known  that 
she  was  to  ,be  famous  as  one  of  the  heroes  of  the 
Revolution,  there  is  no  doubt  that  she  would  have 
hoped  that  people  would  be  careful  to  remember  that 
*  it  was  a  man's  service  that  she  did  to  the  country,  and 
not  a  woman's. 

But  Captain  Molly  was  not  the  only  Jersey  woman 
who  was  willing  to  act  a  man's  part  in  the  War  for 
Independence.  Among  those  of  whom  there  is  his- 
torical mention  was  Mrs.  Jinnie  Waglum,  who  lived 
near  Trenton.  At  the  time  when  Washington  was 
arranging  to  march  upon  Princeton,  she  was  visiting 
her  friend,  whose  husband  was  the  landlord  of  The 
True  American  Inn,  just  out  of  Trenton ;  and  this 
tavern  was  Washington's  headquarters  at  the  time. 
In  this  way  Mrs.  Jinnie  heard  of  the  intended  advance ; 
and  she  also  heard  that  there  was  no  one  in  the  Amer- 
ican forces  who  knew  the  country  well  enough  to  con- 
duct the  army  from  Trenton  to  Princeton  by  any  route 
except  the  highways,  on  which  the  advance  would  be 
observed  by  the  enemy. 

She  therefore  sent  word  to  Washington  that  she 
would  guide  the  army  if  he  wished,  and  that  there 
was  no  one  who  knew  the  country  better  than  she 
did.  Washington  was  a  man  who  had  sense  enough 
to  avail  himself  of  good  service  whenever  it  was 
offered ;  and  when  he  had  made  inquiries  about  Mrs. 
Waglum,  he  was  perfectly  willing  to  put  his  army  un- 
der her  guidance,  and  very  glad  indeed  that  she  had 
offered  her  services. 

When  a  woman   acts  the  part  of   a  man,  it  is  not 


surprising  that  she  likes  to  look  like  a  man  ;  so  Mrs. 
Jinnie  put  on  a  soldier's  coat  and  a  soldier's  hat,  and, 
mounting  a  horse,  she  headed  the  Continental  army, 
commanded  by  Washington.  This  was  a  proud  posi- 
tion, but  she  was  equal  to  it ;  and  on  she  rode,  with 
all  the  cavalry  and  the  infantry  and  the  artillery  and 
the  general  and  staff  following  behind  her.  She  took 
them  along  by  Sand  Town  and  Quaker  Bridge,  by 
roads  over  which  she  had  often  traveled ;  and  the 
American  army  reached  Princeton  in  good  time  for 
the  battle  which  took  place  next  day. 


THE   MORRISTOWN    GHOSTS. 

IN  the  early  days  of  American  history  there  was  in 
New  Jersey,  as  well  as  in  New  England  and  other 
parts  of  the  country,  a  firm  belief  in  the  existence  of 
witches  and  ghosts.  Of  course,  there  were  people  who 
knew  enough  not  to  put  faith  in  supernatural  appari- 
tions and  magical  power ;  but  there  were  so  many  who 
did  believe  in  these  things,  that  it  was  often  unsafe, 
or  at  least  unpleasant,  to  be  an  ugly  old  woman,  or  a 
young  woman  in  not  very  good  health,  for  it  was  be- 
lieved that  into  such  bodies  the  evil  spirits  delighted 
to  enter. 

Nearly  all  the  older  towns  had  their  ghost  stories, 
their  witch  stories,  and  their  traditions  of  hidden  treas- 
ure, guarded  by  spirits  of  persons  who  had  been  mur- 
dered, and  buried  with  the  gold  in  order  that  their 
spirits  might  act  as  a  charm  to  frighten  away  any- 
body who  should  presume  to  dig  in  those  spots.  In 
Burlington  were  two  great  trees  which  were  regarded 
with  admiration  and  fear  by  many  of  the  inhabitants. 
One  was  a  large  willow  tree,  which  was  called  the 
Witches'  Tree,  around  which  these  horrible  spirits 
were  supposed  to  dance  on  many  a  wild  night.  An- 
other was  the  Pirates'  Tree,  a  great  walnut,  under 

STO.  OFN.J.  —  13  193 


194 

the  roots  of  which  many  of  the  inhabitants  firmly  be- 
lieved that  the  famous  Blackbeard  and  his  band  had 
buried  many  pots  of  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones ; 
and  these  pots  would  have  been  dug  up  had  it  not 
been  for  the  fear  that'the  spirit  of  the  savage  pirate, 
who  had  been  buried  with  the  treasure,  would  have 
been  the  first  thing  to  meet  the  eyes  of  the  sacri- 
legious disturber  of  the  pirate  treasure  vault. 

There  are  other  ghost  stories  of  other  places  in 
New  Jersey ;  but  Morristown,  some  years  after  the 
close  of  the  Revolution,  took  the  lead  of  all  the  other 
Jersey  towns  as  a  scene  of  ghostly  performances. 

For  years  back  many  of  the  people  had  been  con- 
vinced that  an  occasional  witch  had  appeared  among 
them,  getting  into  the  churns  and  preventing  the  but- 
ter from  coming,  breaking  the  legs  of  sheep  in  jump- 
ing over  the  fence,  causing  their  horses  to  become 
suddenly  mysteriously  sick,  and  making  themselves 
obnoxious  in  various  ways.  But  it  was  not  until  the 
year  1788  that  New  Jersey  ghosts  determined  to  go 
regularly  into  business  at  this  place. 

Supernatural  occurrences  of  this  period  attracted  a 
great  deal  of  attention,  not  only  in  the  town  itself, 
but  in  the  surrounding  country;  and  an  account  of 
what  happened  in  Morristown  during  the  time  that 
the  spirits  were  holding  their  visitations  at  that  place 
is  related  in  an  old  pamphlet  published  in  1792,  writ- 
ten by  an  anonymous  person  who  had  no  faith  what- 
ever in  ghosts,  but  who  had  a  firm  belief  in  the 
efficacy  of  long  words  and  complicated  phraseology. 
We  will  take  the  story  from  this  old  pamphlet. 


195 

For  a  long  time  there  had  been  a  tradition  that  a 
vast  treasure  was  buried  on  Schooley's  Mountain,  or, 
as  it  was  then  spelled,  Schooler's  Mountain,  which  was 
at  that  time  a  wild  and  desolate  region  more  than 
twenty  miles  from  Morristown.  It  is  said  that  there 
were  two  gentlemen  of  the  place  who  were  particu- 
larly strong  in  their  belief  in  this  treasure,  and  they 
felt  sure  that  all  that  was  necessary  in  order  to  ob- 
tain it  was  to  find  some  man  who  had  knowledge  of 
the  habits  and  customs  and  requirements  of  the  spirits 
in  regard  to  treasures.  Having  their  minds  on  this 
subject,  it  was  not  long  before  they  heard  of  such  a 
man.  This  was  Mr.  Ransford  Rogers,  a  schoolmaster 
in  Connecticut,  who  knew  many  things,  and  who  pre- 
tended to  know  many  more.  He  really  did  understand 
something  about  chemistry,  was  very  ingenious  and 
plausible,  and  had  been  frequently  heard  to  say  that 
he  was  not  afraid  of  spirits,  and  was  able  to  call  them 
up,  converse  with  them,  and  afterwards  cause  them  to 
disappear.  This  was  exactly  the  man  needed  by  the 
two  gentlemen  of  Morristown,  and  they  went  to  Con- 
necticut to  see  him. 

When  the  business  of  the  visitors  was  made  known 
to  Rogers,  he  was  delighted,  for  here  was  an  oppor- 
tunity to  get  into  a  good  business,  which  would  proba- 
bly be  infinitely  more  pleasant  than  teaching.  So  he 
gave  up  his  school  and  came  to  Morristown,  being 
under  contract  to  the  two  gentlemen  to  do  what  he 
could  to  induce  the  spirits  to  reveal  the  place  of  the 
concealed  treasure  in  Schooley's  Mountain.  But  as  it 
would  not  do  for  a  stranger  to  come  into  the  town 


196 

and  hang  out  a  sign,  stating  that  he  was  a  spirit  raiser, 
it  was  necessary  for  Rogers  to  pretend  that  he  had 
come  on  other  business,  and  so  he  took  charge  of  a 
small  school  outside  of  the  town,  but  gave  the  greater 
part  of  his  time  to  investigating  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Morristown,  in  order  that  he  might  find  out 
what  he  could  do  in  the  way  of  duping  them ;  and  in 
the  words  of  the  old  writer,  he  found  that  this  would 
be  a  good  place  for  the  "  marvelous  exhibitions  which 
he  was  able  to  facilitate  with  the  greatest  alacrity." 

Of  course,  he  was  not  at  all  willing  to  begin  business 
with  the  support  of  only  two  persons,  and  the  first  thing 
he  did  was  to  gather  together  as  many  men  as  possi- 
ble who  really  wished  to  be  rich,  and  who  were  will- 
ing to  be  governed  by  him  in  regard  to  the  way  in 
which  they  should  go  about  obtaining  the  vast  hoard 
buried  far  away  in  the  mountain.  After  a  time  he 
succeeded  in  getting  together  as  many  as  forty  men, 
who  all  thoroughly  believed  in  his  honesty  and  in  his 
ability  to  take  them  out  to  Schooley's  Mountain,  to 
call  up  the  spirits  who  guarded  the  treasure,  to  induce 
them  to  turn  it  over  to  them,  and  then  to  vanish  peace- 
ably, without  offering  to  molest  or  harm  any  one. 

But  it  was  a  long  time  before  Rogers  was  ready  to 
lead  his  company  on  the  great  quest.  There  were 
many,  many  things  that  had  to  be  done  before  they 
could  start,  and  he  soon  found  that  he  was  not  able 
to  work  out  his  great  scheme  alone ;  so  he  went  back 
to  Connecticut  and  got  another  schoolmaster,  to  whom 
he  divulged  his  secret,  and  brought  him  to  Morristown, 
and  the  two  together  went  into  the  spirit  business  with 


197 

great  energy  and  enterprise.  Night  after  night  the 
company  of  treasure  seekers  met  together,  sometimes 
in  a  dark  room,  and  sometimes  out  in  the  wild,  lonely 
fields,  close  to  black  forests,  and  out  of  sight  and  hear- 
ing of  human  abodes. 

Rogers  was  a  chemist;  and  he  frequently  went  out 
to  one  of  these  lonely  meeting  places  in  the  afternoon 
and  prepared  a  mine,  which  he  exploded  during  the 
midnight  meetings,  and  thus  created  a  great  wonder 
and  terror  among  his  followers.  When  they  were  in- 
doors, there  would  be  knockings  and  strange  voices 
heard  coming  through  the  cracks;  these  voices  pro- 
ceeding from  the  other  schoolmaster,  who  covered  his 
mouth  with  what  the  writer  of  the  pamphlet  calls 
"  a  superficial  machine,"  probably  a  bit  of  tin  with  a 
hole  in  it,  which  so  disguised  his  voice  that  it  was  not 
recognized. 

When  they  were  out  of  doors  in  the  black  night,  they 
would  sometimes  see  a  ghost  flit  about  under  the  trees 
at  the  edge  of  the  woods ;  and  the  second  schoolmas- 
ter, well  wrapped  up  in  a  sheet,  seems  to  have  made 
as  good  a  ghost  as  could  have  been  found  anywhere. 
There  were  many  supernatural  performances,  and 
among  them  was  a  great  act,  in  which  each  one  of 
the  members  of  the  company  lay  flat  on  his  face  in 
the  field  with  his  eyes  shut,  holding  in  one  out- 
stretched hand  a  sheet  of  paper.  This  was  done  in 
the  hope  that  the  spirits  would  write  their  instruc- 
tions on  the  paper.  Mr.  Rogers  knelt  down  with  the 
others  and  held  his  paper;  but  it  was  not  a  blank 
sheet  like  the  others.  When  this  performance  was 


I98 

over,  all  the  papers  were  shaken  together,  and  then 
they  were  drawn  out  one  by  one;  and  judge  of  the 
surprise  and  awe  of  all  present,  when  one  of  them 
would  contain  some  writing,  —  generally  in  a  beautiful 
hand,  such  as  could  only  be  expected  from  a  super- 
natural being  (or  a  schoolmaster),  —  which  would  be 
found  to  be  instructions  as  to  what  must  be  done. 


The  most  important  of  these  directions  ordered  that 
before  any  march  could  be  made  toward  Schooley's 
Mountain,  or  any  definite  directions  given  in  regard  to 
the  whereabouts  of  the  treasure,  each  member  should 
pay  to  the  spirits,  through  Mr.  Rogers,  who  would 
kindly  act  as  agent,  the  sum  of  twelve  pounds.  And, 
moreover,  this  must  not  be  paid  in  the  paper  money  then 
current  in  New  Jersey,  which  was  called  "  loan  money," 
and  which  would  not  pass  outside  of  the  State,  but  in 


199 

gold  or  silver.  When  every  member  had  paid  in  his 
twelve  pounds,  then  the  party  would  be  led  to  the 
place  of  the  treasure. 

When  they  found  out  what  they  had  to  do,  each 
man  went  to  work  to  try,  if  possible,  to  raise  the 
twelve  pounds ;  but  Rogers  soon  saw  that  it  would 
be  impossible  for  some  of  them  to  do  this,  as  specie 
money  was  so  hard  to  get,  and  he  reduced  the  sum, 
in  some  cases,  to  six  or  four  pounds.  He  was  a  good 
business  manager,  and  would  not  try  to  get  out  of  a 
man  more  than  that  man  could  pay. 

Not  one  of  the  people  engaged  in  this  affair  had 
the  slightest  idea  that  Rogers  was  deceiving  them. 
It  is  not  likely  that  any  of  them  were  people  of  much 
culture  or  means ;  and  it  is  said  that  some  of  them 
went  so  far  as  to  sell  their  cattle,  and  mortgage  their 
farms,  in  order  to  get  gold  or  silver  to  pay  to  the 
good  schoolmaster  who  was  generously  acting  as  a 
mutual  friend  to  both  parties.  But  what  were  these 
sacrifices  compared  to  the  treasure  they  would  obtain 
when  at  last  they  should  be  permitted  to  dig  up  the 
buried  hoard  on  Schooley's  Mountain! 

It  was  now  winter,  and  of  course  they  could  not 
start  on  the  expedition  in  bad  weather;  but  meeting 
after  meeting  was  held,  and  it  was  at  last  definitely 
promised  that  the  expedition  should  go  forth  from 
Morristown  early  in  May.  On  the  first  of  that  month, 
they  all  gathered  at  midnight  in  the  lonely  field,  and 
there  was  a  terrible  scene.  There  were  more  fire- 
works and  explosions  than  usual,  and  one  of  the 
spirits  appeared  at  the  edge  of  the  wood  greatly  ex- 


2OO 

cited,  stamping  his  feet,  and  rushing  about  under  the 
trees;  and  when  Rogers  went  to  see  what  was  the 
matter,  —  for  of  course  none  of  the  others  would  dare 
to  speak  to  a  spirit,  —  he  found  that  the  supernatural 
beings  with  whom  they  had  so  long  been  in  communi- 
cation, and  who  were  now  scattered  about  in  all  parts 
of  the  woods,  were  very  angry  and  incensed  because 
they  had  become  aware  that  some  of  the  party  were 
unfaithful,  and  had  divulged  the  secrets  which  had 
been  made  known  to  them.  They  were  so  thoroughly 
indignant,  in  fact,  that  they  refused  to  go  on  with  the 
affair  for  a  time,  and  announced  that  the  expedition 
to  Schooley's  Mountain  would  be  postponed  until  they 
were  positively  certain  that  every  man  who  was  to  go 
there  was  the  sort  of  man  who  would  never  let  any- 
body into  the  awful,  soul-dazzling  secret  which  would 
be  divulged.  So  they  must  all  go  home,  and  wait 
until  this  important  matter  could  be  satisfactorily 
arranged. 

Strange  to  say,  they  all  did  go  home,  and  waited, 
and  not  one  of  them  suspected  Rogers. 

The  schoolmaster  had  obtained  a  good  deal  of 
money,  but  he  had  not  enough.  So,  in  less  than  a 
month,  he  started  another  company,  this  time  a  small 
one,  and  began  to  go  through  his  performances  with 
them.  But  he  soon  found  he  could  not  make  much 
money  out  of  five  men,  and  he  began  to  get  a  little 
braver,  and  thought  he  would  try  what  he  could  do 
with  the  better  class  of  people  in  Morristown ;  and, 
having  discovered  that  a  very  good  ghost  could  be 
called  up  by  means  of  a  white  sheet  and  a  "  superfi- 


201 

cial  machine,"  he  dressed  himself  up  one  night,  and 
made  a  supernatural  call  upon  a  gentleman  in  good 
standing  in  the  church.  When  he  had  appeared  at 
the  bedside  of  this  good  man,  he  told  him  all  about 
the  treasure  of  Schooley's  Mountain,  and,  if  he  wanted 
some  of  it,  how  he  might  obtain  it. 

The  gentleman,  having  never  seen  a  ghost,  sup- 
posed, of  course,  that  this  was  an  authorized  appari- 
tion, and  became  greatly  interested  in  what  was  told 
him.  The  next  day,  according  to  directions,  he  went 
around  among  his  friends  in  the  church,  and  soon 
formed  a  considerable  company,  who  all  believed,  that, 
if  they  did  what  they  were  told  to  do,  they  could  go  to 
Schooley's  Mountain  and  become  immensely  wealthy. 

They  did  a  great  many  things  that  they  were  told 
to  do :  they  met  in  dark  rooms,  as  the  other  party  had 
met ;  they  went  out  into  a  lonely  field  at  midnight ; 
they  held  out  papers  to  be  written  on ;  and,  more  than 
that,  they  conducted  their  meetings  with  prayer  and 
other  solemnities.  And  they  all  promised  to  pay  twelve 
pounds  in  gold  as  an  earnest  of  their  good  faith  in 
the  spirits,  and  to  deliver  the  money  to  that  great 
miracle  worker,  Mr.  Rogers,  who  would  remit  it  to 
the  spirits. 

The  schoolmaster  found  it  necessary  to  be  more  mys- 
tical and  weird  in  his  dealings  with  this  second  party 
than  with  the  first.  He  did  a  great  many  strange 
things  which  savored  of  magic  and  alchemy.  Among 
other  things,  he  got  some  fine  bone  dust,  which  he  as- 
sured his  followers  was  the  dust  of  the  bodies  of  the 
spirits  who  were  to  lead  them  to  the  treasure;  and  a 


202 

little  of  this,  wrapped  up  in  a  paper,  he  gave  to  each 
one  of  them,  which  they  were  to  keep  secret,  and  pre- 
serve as  a  magical  charm. 

One  of  the  company,  an  old  gentleman  who  was 
sometimes  a  little  absent-minded,  went  to  bed  one  night 
and  left  the  magical  packet  in  one  of  his  pockets ;  and 
his  wife,  probably  looking  for  small  change,  found  it. 
She  could  not  imagine  what  it  was,  but  she  was  afraid 
it  was  something  connected  with  witchcraft,  and  was 
greatly  troubled  about  it.  The  next  day  she  told  her 
husband  of  the  discovery,  and  was  so  very  persistent 
that  he  should  explain  to  her  what  it  meant,  that  at 
last  he  thought  it  wise  to  tell  her  the  whole  proceed- 
ing, and  so  prevent  her  from  interfering  with  the  great 
and  important  business  with  which  he  was  concerned. 
He  made  her  promise  secrecy,  and  soon  she  had  heard 
all  about  Rogers,  the  spirits,  and  the  buried  gold. 
She  became  convinced  that  it  was  all  the  work  of  the 
devil,  and  she  went  off  among  her  friends  and  began  to 
talk  about  it. 

Now  there  was  a  great  excitement,  not  only  on  the 
part  of  the  believers,  but  among  the  spirits  themselves; 
and  Rogers,  who  had  enlisted  two  new  men  in  his 
scheme,  made  his  ghosts  work  hard  to  keep  up  the  de- 
lusion among  his  followers.  All  four  of  them,  dressed 
in  sheets,  went  about  making  communications  when- 
ever they  had  a  chance,  and  assuring  the  members  of 
the  band  of  treasure  hunters  that  everything  would 
soon  be  all  right,  and  that  they  must  not  allow  their 
faith  to  be  shaken  by  gossipers  and  scandalmongers. 

Rogers  himself,   in   his  ghostly  costume,   went   one 


203 

night  to  the  house  of  a  gentleman  who  was  his  fol- 
lower, and  .made  some  important  communications  to 
him;  but  as  the  schoolmaster  had  been  encouraging 
himself  by  some  strong  drink  before  setting  out  on 
his  round  of  apparitions,  he  talked  in  such  a  queer 
way  to  his  disciple,  that  the  latter  became  suspicious. 
The  next  morning  he  found  horse  tracks  from  his 
door  to  Rogers's  house,  and  so  discovered  that  the 
ghost  had  come  from  that  place  on  horseback.  Fur- 
ther investigations  followed,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
it  became  quite  plain  that  Rogers  had  been  playing  a 
well-planned  trick  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Morristown, 
and  he  was  arrested. 

Every  one,  however,  had  not  lost  faith  in  him,  and 
there  was  an  old  gentleman  —  whose  name  the  ancient 
pamphlet  very  kindly  conceals,  calling  him  by  the  name 
of  "Compassion"  —  who  went  bail  for  him,  and  he 
was  released ;  whereupon  he  and  his  friends  decamped. 
However,  Rogers  was  again  arrested,  and  this  time 
he  confessed  the  whole  of  his  share  in  raising  the 
ghosts  of  Morristown. 

But,  as  has  been  said,  he  was  a  man  of  ability,  and 
able  to  take  care  of  himself,  and  in  some  way  he 
managed  to  escape  from  custody,  and  was  seen  no 
more  in  New  Jersey.  His  followers,  who  had  sent 
their  gold  and  silver  to  the  spirits  by  means  of  his 
kind  offices,  never  saw  their  money  again ;  and  the  vast 
treasures  buried  at  Schooley's  Mountain  still  remain 
hidden  from  all  men. 


A   JERSEYMAN   AND    HIS    ROYAL  CROWN. 

WE  have  told  the  story  of  the  lord  who  lived  at 
Basking  Ridge;  now  we  will  tell  the  story  of  a 
much  more  exalted  personage,  one  who  had  sat  upon 
a  throne,  and  worn  a  crown  and  royal  robes  rich  with 
diamonds  and  precious  stones,  and  who  lived  on  a 
breezy  hill  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware.  What  he 
was  doing  in  New  Jersey,  and  how  he  had  come  to 
wear  a  crown  and  royal  robes,  we  will  now  proceed 
to  tell. 

This  exalted  personage  was  not  a  king  when  he  was 
living  in  New  Jersey,  but  he  had  been  a  king.  In 
fact,  if  we  may  not  say  that  he  had  been  two  kings, 
we  can  say  that  he  had  been  a  king  twice.  He  was 
Joseph  Bonaparte,  the  eldest  brother  of  the  great  em- 
peror, Napoleon,  who,  after  having  conquered  a  great 
many  nations  of  Europe,  and  having  deposed  their 
kings,  supplied  them  with  new  sovereigns  out  of  his 
own  family.  Joseph  was  sent  to  Italy  to  be  King  of 
Naples.  He  did  not  particularly  want  to  be  king,  and 
he  knew  that  the  people  did  not  warit  him,  and  after 
he  had  been  in  Naples  some  time,  reigning  under  his 
brother's  orders  with  no  great  success,  the  emperor 
determined  to  transfer  him  to  Spain,  whose  throne 

204 


205 

had  just  been  made  vacant.  Having  been  informed 
that  he  was  to  go  to  Madrid,  Joseph  obeyed,  but  he 
did  not  like  it. 

Moreover,  the  people  of  Spain  did  not  like  it,  and 
after  a  time  they  rose  up  in  rebellion,  and  were  assisted 
by  the  English  and  Portuguese,  and  forced  the  king 
to  fly  from  Spain. 

The  ex-king  of  Naples  and  Spain  had  various  ad- 
ventures in  France  and  Switzerland ;  and  when  the 
power  of  the  great  Napoleon  came  to  an  end,  he  was 
obliged  to  fly,  or  he  also  might  have  been  sent  to 
Elba  or  some  other  place  equally  undesirable,  so  he 
determined  to  come  to  America.  In  a  little  brig  of 
two  hundred  tons,  a  very  small  vessel  to  sail  on  the 
ocean,  he  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  disguise,  not  even 
the  captain  of  the  vessel  knowing  who  he  was.  He 
was  accompanied  by  his  secretary;  and  when  the  two 
reached  America  and  made  themselves  known,  they 
were  treated  with  great  respect  and  attention.  In  fact, 
America  owed  so  much  to  France,  that  she  was  very 
willing  to  show  her  gratitude. 

Now  that  he  was  well  out  of  Europe,  Joseph  Bona- 
parte gave  up  all  idea  of  returning,  and  in  deciding 
to  settle  here  it  was  not  surprising  that  he  chose  to 
make  his  home  in  New  Jersey.  He  bought  a  place 
near  Bordentown,  on  a  high  wooded  hill  called  Point 
Breeze,  and  built  a  house,  which  was  truly  splendid 
for  those  days.  It  had  grand  halls  and  staircases  and 
banquet  halls,  and  it  must  have  been  larger  and  more 
imposing  than  Lord  Stirling's.  His  estate,  which  cov- 
ered more  than  a  thousand  acres,  was  beautifully  laid 


206 


out  in  drives  and  gardens  and  lawns,  and  everything 
on  the  place  was  arranged  in  a  style  of  beauty  and 
grandeur. 

It  was  three  years  before  this  great  house,  with  its 
surroundings,  was  finished,  and  ready  for  the  ex-king's 
residence;  and  when  at  last  he  went  there,  he  lived 
in  ex-regal  style.  His  wife  was  not  with  him,  hav- 
ing remained  in  Italy  on 
account  of  ill  health, 
and  her  physicians 
would  never  allow 
her  to  come  to 
America.  But  he 
had  two  daughters 
who  were  with  him 
during  part  of  his 
residence  in  New 
Jersey,  and  there 
were  persons  who  as- 
serted that  he  had  also 
brought  with  him  the  crown  of  Spain  and  the  royal 
robes  of  Italy. 

It  generally  happens,  when  a  sovereign  is  obliged 
to  abdicate  and  to  fly  from  his  kingdom,  that  he 
arranges  matters  so  that  he  shall  not  become  a  pauper 
when  he  arrives  at  the  place  of  refuge.  If  he  is  not 
able  to  carry  away  anything  more  than  a  valise,  he  is 
much  more  likely  to  put  his  royal  jewels  into  it  than 
to  fill  it  up  with  night  clothes  and  hairbrushes ;  so 
when  Bonaparte  came  to  New  Jersey,  he  came  as  a 
very  rich  man. 


207 

When  his  kingly  mansion  was  ready  to  be  supplied 
with  art  treasures,  such  as  ornamented  the  palaces  of 
Europe,  the  ex-king  sent  across  the  ocean  for  costly 
paintings  and  beautiful  sculpture  with  which  to  fill  his 
new  house;  and  if  any  crowned  heads  had  happened 
to  visit  him,  he  would  not  have  been  ashamed  to  wel- 
come them  beneath  his  roof.  People  of  royal  blood 
—  that  is,  the  same  kind  of  royal  blood  that  he  had  — 
did  come  over  to  visit  him.  Louis  Napoleon,  after- 
ward Emperor  of  France,  came,  when  a  young  man, 
and  spent  some  weeks  with  his  uncle.  While  there, 
it  is  said,  this  young  man  went  out  shooting  on  the 
estate,  and,  finding  the  birds  near  the  house  easier  to 
hit  than  those  at  a  distance,  he  blazed  away  at  any 
feathered  creatures  he  saw  in  the  garden,  so  that  the 
gardener  made  a  complaint. 

But  even  then  this  young  Louis  Napoleon  had 
begun  to  have  dreams  in  regard  to  his  succession  to 
the  imperial  throne  of  France,  and  he  did  not  like  to 
be  snubbed  and  scolded  by  an  uncle  who  had  had  all 
the  regal  honors  he  was  ever  likely  to  get,  and  who 
therefore  had  no  right  to  put  on  airs  in  his  dealings 
with  the  prospective  wearer  of  a  crown.  So  there  was 
a  quarrel  between  the  two,  and  there  are  reports  to 
the  effect  that  Louis  Napoleon  took  revenge  upon  his 
uncle  by  cutting  his  fruit  trees  with  a  hatchet,  with- 
out, however,  imitating  Washington  in  regard  to  sub- 
sequent truthfulness. 

Besides  visitors  from  abroad,  many  distinguished 
Americans  visited  the  ex-king.  Among  these  were 
Henry  Clay,  Daniel  Webster,  and  John  Quincy  Adams. 


208 

General  Lafayette,  also,  when  he  came  to  this  country, 
was  received  with  great  state  by  the  Count  de  Sur- 
villiers,  the  title  under  which  Joseph  Bonaparte  lived 
at  Bordentown. 

This  ex-king  never  became  an  American  citizen  by 
taking  out  naturalization  papers ;  but  the  Legislature  of 
New  Jersey  treated  him  very  well,  and  passed  a  reso- 
lution which  enabled  him  to  hold  property  in  this 
State,  and  to  thus  become,  in  fact,  a  Jerseyman. 

But  although  our  ex-king  was  now  established  on 
the  free  soil  of  America,  he  did  not  feel  altogether  safe. 
His  family  had  come  to  grief;  and  there  was  reason 
to  fear,  that,  as  a  member  of  that  family,  England, 
or  France,  or  Spain,  might  demand  him  as  a  prisoner, 
to  be  taken  across  the  ocean  to  answer  the  charge  of 
unlawful  occupation  of  a  throne. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  the  people  of  the  neighbor- 
hood imagined  that  the  ex-king  was  in  greater  fear 
of  molestation  from  his  former  royal  brethren  than  was 
really  the  case.  Their  reasons  for  supposing  that  he 
was  anxious  to  defend  himself  against  surprise  and 
capture  had  some  ground,  for  there  were  some  strange 
things  about  that  ex-royal  estate,  —  things  that  were 
not  known  in  any  other  part  of  New  Jersey.  There 
was  a  tall  building  called  a  belvedere,  from  which  the 
country  and  the  river  might  be  surveyed  for  a  long 
distance  in  every  direction ;  but,  stranger  far  than  that, 
there  were  subterranean  passages  which  led  from  the 
house  to  unfrequented  parts  of  the  grounds.  These 
passages  were  well  built,  arched  with  brick,  and  high 
enough  for  people  to  walk  upright  in  them ;  and 


209 

although  persons  of  quiet  and  unimaginative  minds 
thought  that  they  were  constructed  for  the  purpose 
of  allowing  the  occupants  to  go  down  to  the  lake  or 
to  the  other  portions  of  the  grounds  without  getting 
wet  if  it  should  happen  to  be  raining,  there  were  many 
people  who  believed  that  for  sudden  showers  a  good 


stock  of  umbrellas  would  be  cheaper  and  quite  as 
useful,  and  that  these  costly  passages  could  be  meant 
for  nothing  else  than  to  give  opportunity  for  escape, 
in  case  foreign  emissaries  or  officers  of  the  law  should 
come  in  search  of  an  ex-king  who  was  wanted  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

For    whatever    reason    these    passages    were    built, 
the  spectacle  of  an  ex-king,  carrying  a  crown  and  his 

STO.  OK  N.J. —  14 


210 

royal  robes  in  a  hand  bag,  slipping  out  from  among 
some  bushes  to  tramp  along  the  dusty  road  to  Trenton 
or  Burlington,  was  never  seen.  Nobody  ever  thought 
it  worth  while  to  come  to  New  Jersey  to  demand  him 
or  his  property. 

During  his  residence  at  Bordentown,  which  continued 
for  about  fourteen  years,  Joseph  Bonaparte  was  very 
popular  with  the  people  of  the  neighborhood.  They 
looked  upon  him  as  a  friend  and  neighbor;  but  at  the 
same  time  they  did  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact,  that  al- 
though he  was  now  a  country  gentleman  of  New  Jersey, 
with  his  lawn  and  his  flower  garden  to  look  after,  he 
had  sat  upon  two  thrones,  and  had  been  a  sovereign 
of  Naples  and  Spain.  They  called  him  "king,"  and 
his  house  was  known  as  the  "  palace ; "  and  for  this 
reason  the  people  of  other  States  made  some  mild  fun 
of  New  Jersey,  calling  it  a  foreign  country. 

But  if  this  ex-king  had  been  a  rich  country  gentle- 
man of  the  neighborhood,  he  could  not  have  made 
himself  more  popular.  He  was  hospitable,  and  fre- 
quently gave  entertainments,  and  he  sent  flowers  and 
fruits  from  his  gardens  to  his  friends  and  neighbors. 
He  made  roads,  and  contributed  in  many  ways  to  the 
improvement  of  the  country  round  about  his  home. 
In  winter  time  the  boys  of  Bordentown  came  to  skate 
upon  his  ponds  ;  and  at  such  times  he  nearly  always 
offered  them  refreshments,  which  consisted  of  quanti- 
ties of  chestnuts,  which  he  scattered  on  the  ice  so  that 
the  youngsters  might  scramble  for  them. 

In  many  ways  his  kind  and  sociable  disposition  made 
him  so  much  liked,  that  it  is  very  probable  that  if  the 


211 

officers  of  the  law  had  come  to  take  him  back  to 
Europe,  he  would  have  received  such  timely  notice  of 
their  approach  that  it  would  not  have  been  necessary 
for  him  to  hurry  away  through  his  underground  pas- 
sages. New  Jersey  is  a  reasonable  and  hospitable 
State,  and  when  an  ex-king  comes  to  reside  within  her 
borders,  he  will  be  as  well  treated,  so  long  as  he 
behaves  himself,  as  if  he  were  a  poor  immigrant  from 
Europe,  coming  with  his  wife  and  family  to  clear  away 
the  forest,  and  make  himself  a  home. 

Just  before  Joseph  started  for  America,  the  affairs  of 
his  family  were  at  their  lowest  ebb.  His  great  brother, 
the  emperor,  had  fallen  from  his  high  state,  and  could 
look  forward  to  nothing  but  imprisonment  by  the  Euro- 
pean countries,  whose  thrones  he  had  for  so  long  been 
in<  the  habit  of  upsetting  or  threatening.  In  his  last 
interview  with  Napoleon,  when  on  his  way  to  the  ship 
which  was  to  take  him  to  America,  Joseph  generously 
offered  to  change  places  with  his  brother,  and  to  let 
the  ex-emperor  fly  to  America  instead  of  the  ex-king. 
It  was  very  difficult  for  any  one  of  the  Napoleon 
family  to  get  away  from  France  at  that  time;  but 
Joseph  had  made  a  very  excellent  plan  by  which  pass- 
ports were  provided  for  two  persons  coming  to  America 
on  business,  and  his  brother  could  have  used  one  of 
those  as  well  as  himself. 

But  the  great  Napoleon  declined  to  run  away  in  this 
manner.  He  remained,  and  was  sent  to  St.  Helena. 
What  would  have  occurred  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bor- 
dentown,  N.J.,  had  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  conqueror  of 
Europe,  ruler  of  nations,  and  disposer  of  crowns,  the 


212 

hero  of  Austerlitz,  Marengo,  and  Wagram,  taken  up 
his  residence  at  Point  Breeze,  and  established  himself 
as  a  citizen  of  the  State,  cannot  easily  be  imagined. 
The  geniality,  sociability,  and  hospitality  of  the  ex-king 
could  hardly  have  been  expected  from  the  ex-emperor; 
and,  surrounded  as  he  would  have  been  in  time  by 
devoted  followers  who  would  have  exiled  themselves 
from  their  country  for  his  sake,  there  might  have  been 
a  little  empire  in  New  Jersey  which  would  have  been 
exceedingly  interesting  to  tourists. 

Moreover,  if  the  allied  powers  of  Europe  had  sent 
over  a  fleet  to  bring  back  their  great  enemy,  who  knows 
but  that  they  might  have  found,  when  they  reached 
Bordentown,  not  a  tall  lookout  tower  and  underground 
passages  for  escape,  but  a  fort  with  ramparts,  redoubts, 
a  moat,  a  drawbridge, .  and  mounted  cannon  ready  to 
sweep  the  Delaware  and  the  surrounding  country  ? 
However  this  might  have  been,  it  is  certain  that  Napo- 
leon's refusal  to  take  his  brother's  place  must  ever  be 
a  source  of  satisfaction  to  the  people  of  Bordentown 
and  the  rest  of  the  country. 

As  a  proof  that  Joseph  Bonaparte  had  had  enough 
of  royalty,  and  not  enough  of  New  Jersey,  it  is  stated 
that  a  delegation  of  prominent  men  from  Mexico,  which 
country  was  then  in  a  very  disturbed  condition,  came 
to  him  during  his  residence  at  Bordentown,  and 
offered  him  the  throne  of  Mexico.  In  making  answer 
to  this  proposition,  our  ex-king  did  not  hesitate  a  mo- 
ment He  told  the  delegation,  that,  having  already 
worn  two  crowns,  he  desired  never  again  to  wear 
another.  The  old  fable  of  the  fox  which  had  lost  its 


213 


tail    did    not    probably    come    into    his 
mind ;  but  if  it  had,  he  might  well  have 
spoken  of    it  to  his   Mexican  visitors. 

After   years    had    elapsed   without 
any     attempt     on 
the  part  of   Euro- 
pean    powers     to 
arrest  him,  our  ex- 
king,    Joseph,    be- 
gan   to    feel    safe, 
and     he    made    a 
visit    to    England. 
He     returned     to 
America,  but  went 
back     again,     and 
died    in     Italy    in 
1844,  having  given     4? 
to  New  Jersey  the  pecul- 
iar   and    unique     position 
of  being  the  only  State  in  the 
Union  which  ever  numbered  among  her 
citizens  the  owner  of  a  royal  crown  and  regal  robes. 

To  be  sure,  there  is  nothing  in  this  for  the  people 
of  a  republican  State  to  be  proud  of ;  but  New  Jersey 
may  be  allowed  to  say  that  there  never  was  a  royal 
person  who  was  of  less  injury  to  the  people  among 
whom  he  dwelt  than  her  ex-king  at  Bordentown,  and 
she  may  add  that  there  have  been  very  few  of  his 
class  who  have  been  of  as  much  advantage  to  his 
neighbors. 


THE    DEY,    THE    BEY,    AND    SOME   JERSEY 
SAILORS. 


NEW  JERSEY  is  very  intimate  with  the  ocean. 
For  nearly  the  whole  of  her  length,  from  Cape 
May  to  Sandy  Hook,  the  waves  of  the  Atlantic  roll 
and  roar.  Wherever  one  may  be  in  this  State,  it  is 
not  necessary  to  travel  very  far  in  order  to  smell  the 
fresh  sea  air. 

It  is  true  that  but  few  of  the  great  commercial  ves- 
sels leave  and  arrive  at  the  ports  of  New  Jersey,  and 
that  the  presence  of  naval  vessels  in  her  waters  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  she  is  part  owner  of  the  Bay  of  New 
York ;  but  it  is  also  true,  that,  although  she  has  not 

214 


215 

sent  forth  ships  to  fight  the  battles  of  her  country 
upon  the  ocean  wave,  she  has  sent  out  to  command 
those  ships  some  of  the  best-known  men  who  have 
ever  worn  the  American  naval  uniform. 

One  of  the  first  occasions  in  which  our  naval  ves- 
sels played  a  part  in  foreign  waters  was  of  a  rather 
romantic  nature,  though  not  particularly  calculated  to 
raise  our  country's  flag  in  our  own  estimation  or  that 
of  other  nations. 

It  was  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when 
we  had  begun  to  trade  in  various  parts  of  the  world, 
that  our  merchant  vessels  sailing  on  the  Mediterra- 
nean were  greatly  molested  by  the  pirates  of  what 
was  called  the  Barbary  Coast.  The  half-civilized  and 
warlike  people  of  Tripoli,  Algiers,  Tunis,  and  Mo- 
rocco, had  long  been  in  the  habit  of  sending  out  their 
armed  vessels  to  prey  upon  the  ships  of  all  civilized 
countries ;  and  when  American  ships  entered  the  Med- 
iterranean, they  soon  found  out  the  state  of  affairs. 
Several  vessels  were  captured,  and  the  crews  were 
sent  on  shore  and  imprisoned  or  enslaved. 

Nearly  all  the  European  maritime  powers  had  de- 
fended their  commerce  against  these  savage  pirates, 
not  by  great  guns  and  vessels  of  war,  but  by  humbly 
paying  tribute.  Every  year  these  great  nations  sent 
money  and  gifts  to  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  the  Bey  of 
Tunis,  and  the  other  rascals ;  and  in  consideration  of 
this  tribute,  their  vessels  were  graciously  allowed  to 
sail  on  the  Mediterranean  without  molestation. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  government  of  the  United 
States  saw  very  plainly  that  it  must  pay  tribute,  con- 


216 

quer  the  Barbary  States,  or  quietly  submit  to  the  cap- 
ture of  all  American  merchantmen  which  might  sail 
into  the  Mediterranean.  The  easiest  thing  to  do  was 
to  pay  the  tribute;  and  as  the  other  civilized  nations 
did  this,  the  United  States  followed  their  example. 

In  the  year  1800  a  United  States  vessel  bearing  the 
name  of  "George  Washington,"  and  commanded  by 
William  Bainbridge,  a  Jerseyman  who  had  been  at  sea 
ever  since  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  sailed  to  Algiers, 
carrying  on  board  the  ship  which  bore  the  name  of 
the  great  man  who  had  made  his  country  free  and 
independent  of  the  most  powerful  nation  of  the  earth, 
the  tribute  which  was  annually  due  from  the  United 
States  to  an  African  sovereign,  the  Dey  of  Algiers. 

This  commission  of  the  United  States  vessel  seemed 
more  humiliating  from  the  fact  that  our  country  had 
just  come  out  of  a  war  with  France,  in  which  our 
frigate  "  Constellation  "  had  defeated  and  captured  one 
of  the  vessels  of  that  great  naval  power.  But  we  had 
agreed  to  pay  for  the  privilege  of  trading  in  the  Medi- 
terranean, and,  although  the  countries  of  the  Barbary 
Coast  had  no  more  right  in  that  sea  than  Spain, 
France,  or  Italy,  they  chose  to  assert  their  right,  and 
we  had  acknowledged  it. 

When  Bainbridge  had  arrived  at  Algiers,  and  had 
handed  over  the  tribute  which  he  had  brought,  he  sup- 
posed that  his  business  was  over,  and  prepared  to  sail 
away ;  but  the  Dey,  who  was  a  potentate  accustomed 
to  ask  for  what  he  wanted  and  to  get  it,  informed  the 
United  States  commander  that  he  wished  to  send  him 
upon  an  errand. 


These  Barbary  powers  were  all  subject  to  the  great 
head  of  the  Mohammedan  nations,  the  Sultan  of  Tur- 
key; and  the  Dey  desired  to  send  an  ambassador  to 
his  imperial  master,  and  as  the  "  George  Washington  " 
was  about  to  sail,  he  determined  to  make  use  of  her. 

When  Captain  Bainbridge  was  informed  that  the 
Dey  commanded  him  to  take  the  ambassador  to  Con- 
stantinople, he  very  naturally  declined,  and  thereupon 
a  great  hubbub  arose.  The  Dey  informed  Bainbridge, 
that,  as  the  United  States  paid  him  tribute,  its  people 
were  his  slaves;  they  were  bound,  as  were  his  other 
subjects,  to  obey  his  commands,  and  to  do  what  he 
told  them  without  hesitation  or  question.  If  they 
were  not  his  slaves,  why  did  they  come  here,  meekly 
bearing  money  and  other  gifts  to  their  master? 

All  this  had  no  effect  in  convincing  Captain  Bain- 
bridge that  he  was  a  slave  of  the  Dey  of  Algiers, 
and  bound  to  go  upon  his  errands;  but  there  was  an 
American  consul  there,  and  he  saw  that  the  matter 
was  very  serious  indeed.  The  harbor  was  commanded 
by  forts  mounted  with  heavy  guns,  and  if  these  were 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  "George  Washington,"  she 
would  certainly  be  blown  to  pieces  without  much 
chance  of  defending  herself;  and,  moreover,  such  a 
conflict  would  surely  bring  about  a  war  with  Algiers, 
and  it  was  not  at  all  desirable  that  an  American 
officer,  bound  upon  friendly  business,  should  provoke 
war  between  his  country  and  another. 

This  reason  was  a  very  bitter  dose  for  Captain 
Bainbridge ;  but  after  consideration  he  found  himself 
obliged  to  take  it  If  he  refused,  there  would  be  a 


218 

United  States  ship  the  less;  and  he  knew  not  how 
many  American  ships,  now  sailing  without  fear  upon 
the  Mediterranean,  might  be  seized  and  burned,  and 
their  crews  thrown  into  horrible  slavery.  He  had  no 
right  to  precipitate  anything  of  this  sort,  and  conse< 
quently,  under  protest,  he  agreed  to  take  the  Algerine 
ambassador  to  Constantinople.  But  this  was  not  all  the 
high-minded  Dey  demanded.  He  insisted  that  when 
the  "George  Washington"  sailed  out  of  the  harbor, 
she  should  sail,  not  as  a  United  States  vessel,  but  as 
a  ship  of  Algiers,  and  that  she  should  carry  on  the 
mainmast,  where  generally  floated  the  stars  and  stripes, 
the  Algerine  flag,  while  he  kindly  consented  that  the 
flag  of  her  own  country  might  float  from  the  foremast. 
It  was  as  difficult  to  refuse  this  second  demand  as  it 
was  the  first,  and  so  the  "  George  Washington  "  went 
out  of  Algiers  with  the  pirate's  flag  proudly  floating 
from  its  mainmast. 

As  soon  as  he  got  out  of  sight  of  land,  Bainbridge 
hauled  down  the  Algerine  flag  and  put  up  his  own; 
but  this  was  a  very  small  satisfaction  and  not  particu- 
larly honorable. 

When  the  "George  Washington"  reached  Constan- 
tinople, she  created  a  sensation.  Never  before  in  the 
waters  of  the  Golden  Horn  had  the  stars  and  stripes 
been  seen,  and  the  people  of  the  city  could  not  im- 
agine where  this  strange  ship  came  from.  Some  of 
these  people  had  heard  of  America  and  the  United 
States,  but  they  knew  of  it  only  in  a  vague  and  misty 
way,  very  much  as  we  understand  some  parts  of  the 
interior  of  China.  If  Captain  Bainbridge  had  told 


219 

them  he  was  from  New  Jersey,  he  might  as  well  have 
told  them  he  came  from  the  moon. 

But  the  Americans  were  very  well  received  in  Con- 
stantinople, and  the  officers  of  the  government  were 
glad  to  welcome  them  and  do  them  honor.  Captain 
Bainbridge  and  the  Turkish  admiral  became  very  good 
friends;  and  when  the  latter  heard  how  the  former 
had  been  treated  at  Algiers,  he  condemned  the  inso- 
lent Dey,  and  laid  the  matter  before  the  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment. In  consequence  of  this,  Bainbridge  was 
given  a  paper,  signed  by  the  Sultan,  which  would  pro- 
tect him  thereafter  from  any  such  disrespectful  treat- 
ment from  any  of  the  minor  Mohammedan  powers. 
When  Captain  Bainbridge  had  enjoyed  all  the  Turk- 
ish hospitality  his  duties  permitted  him  to  receive,  he 
sailed  from  Constantinople  and  again  entered  the  port 
of  Algiers.  The  Dey  was  glad  to  see  him  come  back, 
for  he  had  some  more  business  for  him ;  and  our  Jersey 
captain  was  soon  informed  that  he  must  sail  away 
again  on  another  errand  for  his  Barbary  master.  But 
this  time  the  Barbary  master  was  very  much  aston- 
ished, for  Bainbridge  peremptorily  refused  to  do  any- 
thing of  the  kind. 

Now  the  blood  of  the  Dey  boiled  hot,  and  he  vowed 
that  if  the  "  George  Washington "  did  not  immedi- 
ately sail  forth  upon  his  service,  he  would  declare  war 
upon  this  miserable  little  country  which  owned  it,  and 
he  would  put  the  commander  and  crew  of  the  ship  in 
chains,  and  clap  them  into  dungeons.  But  Bainbridge 
did  not  turn  pale,  nor  did  he  tremble.  He  simply 
pulled  from  his  pocket  the  paper  which  he  had  re- 


22O 

ceived  from  the  Sultan,  and  allowed  the  furious  Dey 
to  glance  over  it.  When  the  raving  pirate  read  the 
words  of  his  imperial  master,  all  the  fury  and  the 
courage  went  out  of  him,  and  he  became  as  meek  and 
humble  as  if  he  had  been  somebody  come  to  pay  a 
tribute  to  himself.  He  received  Bainbridge  as  a  friend 
and  an  equal,  and,  from  commanding  and  threatening 
him,  became  so  gracious,  and  made  so  many  offers  of 
service  and  friendship,  that  Bainbridge  decided  to  take 
advantage  of  this  auspicious  change  of  temper. 

Not  long  before,  the  French  consul  at  Algiers  had 
been  seized  and  imprisoned,  together  with  all  the 
Frenchmen  who  were  doing  business  in  that  place; 
for,  so  long  as  people  belonged  to  a  country  which 
was  a  great  way  off,  the  Dey  considered  himself  an 
all-powerful  ruler,  who  could  do  what  he  pleased  with 
them  without  fear  of  their  far-away  government.  Bain- 
bridge determined  to  try  to  do  something  for  these 
poor  men;  and  'when  he  again  met  the  smiling  and 
pleasant  Dey,  he  urged  their  release.  The  paper 
which  Bainbridge  received  from  the  Sultan  must  have 
been  written  in  very  strong  terms;  for,  although  the 
demand  of  the  American  captain  was  a  heavy  one, 
the  Dey  agreed  to  it,  and  when  the  "George  Wash- 
ington "  sailed  from  Algiers,  she  carried  away  all  the 
Frenchmen  who  had  been  living  there. 

Bainbridge  was  not  at  all  satisfied  with  this  Algerine 
business ;  and  when  he  reported  the  affair  to  the  authori- 
ties at  home,  he  requested  that  he  might  never  again 
be  sent  to  carry  tribute  to  Algiers  unless  he  could 
deliver  it  from  the  mouths  of  his  cannon. 


221 

The  next  year  the  Bashaw  of  Tripoli,  who  had  had 
no  tribute  from  the  United  States,  began  to  be  very 
uneasy  in  his  mind  because  he  did  not  fare  so  well 
as  the  other  Barbary  potentates,  to  whom  money  and 
merchandise  were  delivered  every  year.  He  accord- 
ingly spoke  up  in  defense  of  his  rights.  It  is  not 
likely  that  he  knew  where  the  United  States  was, 
what  sort  of  a  country  it  was,  or  how  large  or  how 
small  its  army  and  navy  might  be.  He  knew  that 
the  Americans  were  miserable,  humble  people,  who 
paid  tribute  to  the  Bey  and  the  Dey,  and  he  could 
see  no  particular  reason  why  they  should  not  pay  it 
to  the  Bashaw.  Consequently  he  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  in  which  he  expressed 
his  views  very  pointedly,  and  informed  him,  that,  if 
proper  arrangements  were  not  made  in  six  months,  he 
would  destroy  all  the  American  ships  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean, and  declare  war  against  the  United  States. 

Strange  to  say,  a  thrill  of  terror  did  not  run  through 
the  government  of  the  United  States ;  and  six  months 
passed  without  any  notice  having  been  taken  of  this 
impertinent  communication.  Thereupon  the  Bashaw 
cut  down  the  flag  pole  in  front  of  the  American  con- 
sul's office  at  Tripoli,  and  commenced  the  great  work 
of  annihilating  the  United  States  of  America.  He 
began  on  the  small  American  trading  vessels  which 
he  found  along  the  Barbary  Coast,  intending  probably, 
when  his  convenience  would  permit,  to  sail  out  upon 
the  Atlantic,  find  the  United  States,  and  help  himself 
to  the  treasures  which  its  government  had  so  dis- 
respectfully declined  to  hand  over  to  him.  The  ex- 


222 

ample  of  the  Bashaw  had  a  great  effect  upon  the  Dey 
and  the  Bey  and  the  sub-Sultan ;  and  Algiers,  Tunis, 
and  Morocco  also  informed  the  President  of  the  United 
States  that  they  were  going  to  war  with  him  if  he  did 
not  immediately  promise  to  pay  tribute  more  regularly 
and  in  articles  of  better  quality. 

But  the  United  States  was  getting  tired  of  this  sort 
of  thing,  and  determined,  no  matter  what  the  other 
civilized  powers  chose  to  do,  that  no  more  tribute 
should  be  paid  by  it  to  these  insolent  pirates.  Con- 
sequently our  government  informed  the  mighty  mon- 
archs  of  the  Barbary  Coast  that  it  was  quite  ready  for 
war,  and  sent  four  ships  to  the  Mediterranean,  one  of 
which,  the  "Essex,"  was  commanded  by  Bainbridge. 

But  the  fleet  did  not  do  very  much  on  this  expedi- 
tion, and  the  war  with  North  Africa  dragged  consid- 
erably. Bainbridge  came  back  to  America,  and  after 
a  time  returned  in  command  of  the  "  Philadelphia." 
There  was  a  small  squadron  with  him,  but  he  sailed 
faster  than  the  other  vessels,  and  reached  the  Medi- 
terranean alone.  Here  he  overhauled  a  Moorish  ves- 
sel which  had  captured  an  American  brig  under  a 
commission  from  Morocco.  Having  rescued  the  Amer- 
ican vessel,  the  crew  of  which  were  prisoners  in  the 
pirates'  hold,  the  "Philadelphia"  took  the  Moorish 
vessel  as  a  prize  to  Gibraltar,  and  then  started  out 
again  to  see  what  could  be  done  to  humble  the  port 
of  Tripoli. 

In  this  undertaking  our  Jerseyman  did  not  meet  with 
good  fortune.  In  chasing  a  Tripolitan  vessel  which 
was  discovered  near  the  harbor,  the  "  Philadelphia " 


223 

ran  upon  a  reef,  and  there  stuck  fast.  Everything  was 
done  that  could  be  done  to  get  her  off;  even  the  can- 
non were  thrown  overboard  to  lighten  her,  but  it  was 
of  no  use.  She  was  hard  and  fast ;  and  when  the  peo- 
ple of  Tripoli  found  out  what  had  happened,  their  gun- 
boats came  out  of  the  harbor,  and  the  "Philadelphia" 
was  captured,  and  all  on  board,  including  Bainbridge, 
were  made  prisoners.  They  were  taken  to  Tripoli,  and 
there  remained  in  captivity  nineteen  months.  Now  the 
soul  of  the  Bey  swelled  high  in  his  bosom  as  he  smiled 
at  this  attempt  of  the  little  country  across  the  ocean 
to  resist  his  power. 

The  Tripolitans  found  that  they  had  gained  a  great 
prize  in  the  "  Philadelphia,"  that  fine  war  ship,  which 
seemed  to  have  been  left  on  the  reef  as  a  present  to 
them.  After  a  good  deal  of  work,  they  towed  her  into 
the  harbor  close  to  the  town,  where  they  repaired  her 
leaks,  and  put  her  in  order  to  use  against  their  ene- 
mies the  Americans,  who  did  not  know  how  to  keep 
a  good  thing  when  they  had  it.  When  Commodore 
Preble  came,  six  months  afterwards,  to  blockade  the 
port  of  Tripoli,  he  discovered  that  the  "Philadelphia" 
was  nearly  ready  for  sea;  and,  to  prevent  the  disaster 
of  having  a  United  States  ship  with  United  States 
cannon  bear  down  upon  them,  he  determined  to  de- 
stroy the  "Philadelphia,"  if  possible,  and  an  excellent 
plan  for  the  purpose  was  devised.  A  small  vessel 
called  the  "Intrepid,"  which  had  been  captured  some 
time  previously,  was  manned  with  a  crew  of  over 
eighty  men,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Decatur,  who, 
years  after,  finished  the  Algerine  war. 


224 


This  brave  little  ves- 
sel sailed  into  the  harbor 
as  if  she  had  been  an 
ordinary  merchantman, 
and  managed  to  drift 
down  close  to  the  fine 
frigate  which  the  Tri- 
politans  had  snatched 
from  their  blundering 
enemy.  The  crew  on 
board  the  "  Philadel- 
phia "  did  not  suspect 
the  character  of  the  lit- 
tle vessel  which  came 
so  close  to  them,  until 
she  was  made  fast,  and 
more  than  eighty  men 
sprang  up  from  the 
places  where  they  had 
been  lying  concealed 
on  deck,  and 
swarmed  over 
the  side  of  the 
frigate. 

Among 
these  was  a 
young  sailor, 
Lawrence, 
from  Burling- 
ton, N.J.,  who 
had  begun  life 


225 

early,  having  been  a  midshipman  when  he  was  only 
sixteen  years  old.  When  Commodore  Preble  asked 
for  volunteers  to  go  on  this  expedition  to  snatch  from 
the  hands  of  the  pirates  the  prize  which  they 
thought  they  had  won,  Lawrence  was  one  of  the  first 
volunteers,  and  acted  as  second  in  command  of  this 
expedition. 

The  fight  was  not  long.  Many  of  the  turbaned  crew 
jumped  overboard,  and  the  others  were  quickly  sub- 
dued. It  would  have  been  a  grand  thing  if  Decatur 
and  his  gallant  sailors  could  have  carried  off  the  "  Phil- 
adelphia," and  have  taken  her  out  to  the  squadron. 
But  this  was  absolutely  impossible.  Her  foremast  had 
been  cut  down  in  order  to  lighten  her  so  that  she  could 
be  floated  off  the  reef,  and  many  of  her  sails  were 
wanting.  Knowing  that  the  vessel  would  not  be  found 
in  sailing  trim,  Preble  had  issued  positive  orders  that 
no  attempt  should  be  made  to  capture  her,  but  that 
she  should  be  burned. 

The  cannon  from  the  town  and  from  the  war  ves- 
sels in  the  port  now  began  to  fire ;  but  the  men  with 
Decatur  and  Lawrence  knew  exactly  what  they  had  to 
do,  everything  having  been  carefully  arranged  before- 
hand. They  went  to  work  without  losing  a  minute, 
and  set  fire  to  the  frigate  in  many  places.  The  flames 
and  the  smoke  spread  so  rapidly  that  some  of  them 
had  hardly  time  to  get  out  of  the  hold.  Lieutenant 
Lawrence  found  he  could  not  get  on  deck  the  way  he 
came  down,  and  was  obliged  to  run  along  the  hold 
and  climb  up  forward.  As  quickly  as  possible  every 
one  jumped  on  board  the  "  Intrepid,"  and,  without  rely- 
STO.  OF  N.J.  —  iq 


226 

ing  entirely  on  their  sails  to  enable  them  to  get  away, 
they  put  out  sixteen  great  oars,  which  were  pulled  with 
a  will  by  three  or  four  men  to  each  oar. 

Now  the  whole  harbor  of  Tripoli  was  in  wild  com- 
motion. The  Americans  stopped  rowing  for  a  moment 
to  give  three  great  cheers,  and  soon  cannon  shot  were 
flying  fast  and  furious  after  the  retreating  little  vessel. 
But  only  one  of  them  touched  her,  and  that  passed 
through  a  sail  without  doing  much  damage;  and  she 
rowed  until  her  sails  caught  the  wind,  and  then  went 
out  of  the  harbor,  and  returned  in  triumph  to  the 
squadron. 

Soon  after  they  had  left  the  "Philadelphia,"  that 
great  vessel,  with  her  hull  blazing  and  the  flames  crac- 
kling and  climbing  up  her  masts,  took  it  upon  herself, 
in  these  last  minutes  of  her  existence,  to  strike  a  blow 
for  the  flag  of  her  country.  Possibly  suspecting  that 
some  attempt  might  be  made  to  rescue  the  ship  they 
had  captured,  the  Tripolitans  had  loaded  all  her  cannon 
so  as  to  be  ready  to  fire  upon  any  vessel  that  might 
approach  her.  As  the  fire  spread  over  her  hull,  the 
time  came  when  the  "  Philadelphia "  could  do  some- 
thing for  herself ;  and  when  the  guns  were  hot  enough, 
she  let  fly  a  broadside  into  the  town,  and  then  another 
one  among  the  shipping.  How  much  damage  she  did, 
we  do  not  know;  but  the  soul  of  the  Bashaw  ceased 
to  swell  as  he  heard  the  roar  of  her  last  broadsides, 
and  beheld  her  burning  fragments  scattered  over  the 
waters  of  the  harbor. 

But  when  the  Bashaw  of  Tripoli  imprisoned  Bain- 
bridge,  and  even  after  he  had  seen  the  frigate  he  had 


227 

captured  disappear  in  flames  and  smoke,  he  found  he 
was  not  yet  rid  of  Jersey  sailors.  Some  months  after- 
wards, when  Commodore  Preble  was  still  off  the  Bar- 
bary  Coast,  there  was  a  vessel  in  the  squadron  called 
the  "  Nautilus,"  which  was  commanded  by  a  young 
Jerseyman  named  Somers.  He  was  a  brave  sailor,  and 
had  already  distinguished  himself  on  several  occasions. 

Fighting  the  Bey  was  a  good  deal  like  trying  to  get 
at  a  rat  in  a  hole,  and,  although  there  were  some  good 
fights  in  the  Tripolitan  waters,  the  fleet  did  not  meet 
with  much  success  at  first.  But  the  Americans  were 
very  anxious  to  do  something  effective,  for  at  that 
time  Bainbridge  and  his  crew  were  imprisoned  in  the 
town,  and  no  one  knew  what  hardships  and  cruelties 
they  might  be  enduring. 

After  much  consideration  it  was  thought  that  a  good 
way  to  strike  a  decisive  blow  would  be  to  send  a  ves- 
sel loaded  with  shells  and  gunpowder  into  the  harbor 
of  Tripoli  by  night,  and  explode  her  there.  This  might 
result,  it  was  thought,  in  the  destruction  of  the  forts 
and  ships,  and  possibly  part  of  the  town,  and  so  ter- 
rify the  Bey  that  he  would  come  to  terms.  Lieuten- 
ant Somers,  who  had  been  foremost  in  contriving  this 
project,  volunteered  to  command  the  expedition.  The 
whole  affair  was  so  extremely  dangerous  that  no  one 
was  ordered  to  take  part  in  it,  and  all  those  who  wished 
to  go  went  of  their  own  free  will. 

The  "  Intrepid,"  the  small  vessel  on  which  Decatur 
and  Lawrence  had  sailed  to  burn  the  "Philadelphia," 
was  still  with  the  fleet,  and  this  was  heavily  loaded 
with  explosives  of  all  kinds.  The  plan  was,  that  after 


228 

nightfall  the  "  Intrepid "  should  be  sailed  as  near  as 
possible  to  the  town,  and  that,  after  lighting  the  slow 
match  which  communicated  with  the  terrible  cargo, 
those  on  board  should  take  to  two  small  boats  which 
they  had  in  tow,  and  row  out  of  the  harbor  as  fast  as 
possible,  leaving  there  the  "  Intrepid  "  to  hurl  fire  and 
destruction  into  the  enemy's  strongholds. 

Before  Somers  started  out  on  this  perilous  voyage, 
he  addressed  the  few  men  who  were  to  accompany 
him,  and  told  them  that  he  wanted  no  one  to  go  who 
would  not  be  willing  to  blow  himself  up  rather  than 
be  captured.  It  was  well  known  that  the  Tripolitans 
were  short  of  ammunition,  and  if  they  suspected  what 
sort  of  a  vessel  it  was  which  floated  by  night  into  the 
harbor,  they  would  board  her  and  capture  her,  if  it 
should  be  possible,  and  thus  gain  possession  of  a  great 
quantity  of  powder  and  shell.  Rather  than  that  this 
should  happen,  Somers  told  his  men  that  he  would 
blow  up  the  little  vessel  with  all  on  board,  if  the 
enemy  should  take  it.  But  no  man  flinched ;  and  after 
they  had  all  taken  leave  of  their  friends  on  the  fleet, 
as  if  they  had  been  going  to  execution,  the  "Intrepid" 
slowly  sailed  away  into  the  harbor,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  she  was  lost  to  view  in  the  mists  of  the 
night. 

But  after  a  time  it  became  apparent  to  those  on  the 
American  fleet  that  she  was  not  lost  to  view  to  those 
in  the  harbor,  for  the  guns  of  the  fort  began  to  fire 
on  her.  Everybody  who  had  a  glass  kept  it  fixed  on 
that  part  of  the  harbor  where  it  was  supposed  Som- 
ers and  his  little  vessel  must  be,  and  in  course  of  time 


229 

they  saw  a  light  rapidly  moving  as  if  some  one  were 
carrying  a  lantern  from  one  end  of  the  vessel  to  the 
other.  Then  in  less  than  a  minute  there  was  a  blaze 
and  a  roar,  and  the  whole  harbor  of  Tripoli  was 
lighted  up  as  if  there  had  been  an  explosion  of  fire- 
works. Sparks  and  fiery  fragments  flew  into  the  air, 
and  the  waters  seemed  to  be  shaken  as  if  by  an  earth- 
quake. Then  all  was  silent  and  dark. 

Of  course,  the  "  Intrepid "  had  blown  up,  but  how 
or  why  nobody  on  the  fleet  could  know ;  nor  did  Som- 
ers  and  his  brave  crew  ever  come  back  to  tell  them. 
Some  people  thought,  and  still  think,  that  the  "  In- 
trepid "  was  about  to  be  captured,  and  that  Somers 
carried  out  his  resolution  to  blow  up  the  vessel  under 
him  rather  than  allow  it  to  be  taken.  Others  suppose 
that  a  red-hot  cannon  ball  from  one  of  the  forts  may 
have  set  the  vessel  on  fire ;  but  the  truth  no  one  knows. 
We  only  know  that  this  brave  young  Jerseyman  went 
out  to  his  fate  determined  to  do  his  duty,  no  matter 
what  happened,  and  that  he  died  in  doing  it. 


'  v 

, 


SEA   FIGHTS   WITH    A    NOBLER   FOE. 

THE  war  with  the  Barbary  pirates  was  all  sorts 
of  a  war.  Sometimes  there  was  fighting,  and 
sometimes  there  was  none ;  and  after  Bainbridge  was 
released,  he  was  engaged  part  of  the  time  in  the  mer- 
cantile service  until  the  war  with  Great  Britain  broke 
out  in  1812.  Early  in  this  war,  Bainbridge  took  com- 
mand of  the  "  Constitution,"  the  same  vessel  which,  a 
few  months  before,  had  had  a  fight  with  the  "Guer- 
riere,"  in  which  the  latter  was  captured.  It  is  a  good 
deal  better,  sometimes,  to  fight  with  a  strong  enemy 
who  will  stand  up  bravely  in  front  of  you,  and  let 
you  see  what  he  is,  than  to  contend  with  a  mean 
little  one  who  is  continually  getting  out  of  the  way 
and  bobbing  up  at  unexpected  places,  and  making  it 
very  difficult  either  to  get  at  him  or  to  know  when 
he  is  going  to  get  at  you.  Consequently  there  is  no 
doubt  that  Bainbridge  much  preferred  to  do  battle 
with  the  naval  power  of  Great  Britain  rather  than 
with  the  pirates  of  Barbary. 

He  sailed  down  the  coast  of  South  America,  and 
there  he  met  the  "Java,"  a  British  frigate.  He  had 
a  hard  fight  and  a  long  fight,  and  the  end  of  it  was 
that  the  "Java"  hauled  down  her  flag  after  having 

230 


231 

a  great  portion  of  her  crew  killed  and  wounded ;  and, 
as  she  was  so  thoroughly  shattered  and  broken  up 
by  the  guns  of  the  "  Constitution,"  the  victors  could 
not  take  her  home  as  a  prize,  but  were  obliged  to 
burn  her. 

If  any  one  had  been  inclined  to  deride  the  Jersey- 
man  at  sea,  after  what  had  happened  to  Bainbridge 
in  the  Mediterranean,  he  changed  his  opinion  after 
the  affair  with  the  "Java."  In  fact,  a  gold  medal 
was  voted  to  the  gallant  captain  by  Congress.  When 
the  war  with  Great  Britain  was  over,  Bainbridge  took 
a  squadron  to  the  Mediterranean  to  try  his  hand  again 
at  protecting  American  commerce,  and  humbling  the 
pirates ;  but  fortune  did  not  favor  him  this  time,  for 
Decatur  had  already  settled  the  matter  with  the  Dey, 
the  Bey,  and  the  rest  of  them,  and  peace  was  declared 
before  Bainbridge  arrived  on  the  scene.  Our  Jersey 
sailor  did  not  do  any  more  fighting,  but  he  held  high 
positions  in  our  navy,  and  died  an  honored  commodore. 

Years  after  the  affair  with  the  "  Philadelphia,"  when 
war  had  begun  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  there  was  a  great  chance  for  America  to  show 
what  she  could  do  on  the  sea.  Then  the  fighting  men 
in  ships  were  more  important  to  the  country  than  the 
fighting  men  on  shore ;  and  Captain  Lawrence,  our 
fighting  sailor  from  Burlington,  showed  himself  among 
the  foremost  of  our  naval  heroes. 

Very  early  in  the  war  he  was  in  command  of  the 
"  Hornet,"  a  snappish  vessel  with  more  stings  than 
one,  and  while  cruising  in  South  American  waters 
he  met  the  British  man-of-war  "  Peacock."  Now, 


232 

when  a  hornet  and  a  peacock  quarrel,  lively  times  are 
likely  to  ensue,  and  so  it  happened  in  this  case. 

The  two  vessels  began  by  endeavoring  to  get  into 
favorable  positions,  each  anxious  to  rake  the  deck  of 
the  other.  The  "Peacock"  did  not  spread  her  tail, 
but  she  spread  her  sail,  and  the  "Hornet"  buzzed 
this  way  and  that,  with  her  stings  ready  for  action 
as  soon  as  the  proper  moment  should  arrive.  When 
at  last  they  actually  began  to  fight,  the  battle  was  a 
terrible  one,  such  as  was  possible  only  in  those  days 
of  wooden  ships.  But  a  short  distance  apart,  they 
poured  into  each  other  heavy  shot  and  small  shot; 
musketry  and  cannon  cracked  and  roared,  while  the 
clouds  of  smoke  nearly  hid  the  vessels  from  each 
other.  This  tremendous  bombardment  lasted  about  a 
quarter  of  an  hour,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  the 
"Peacock"  struck  her  colors  and  surrendered.  The 
captain  and  a  good  many  of  the  crew  had  been  killed, 
and  the  vessel  was  in  such  a  demolished  condition 
that  there  was  not  time  to  get  all  the  prisoners  and 
the  wounded  on  board  the  "  Hornet."  The  officers 
and  men  of  the  American  vessel  labored  hard  to  save 
those  on  board  their  unfortunate  enemy ;  but  the  "  Pea- 
cock" sank  before  this  could  be  entirely  accomplished, 
and  several  of  the  British  sailors,  with  three  of  those 
from  the  "  Hornet,"  sank  with  her. 

Captain  Lawrence  was  not  only  a  brave  man,  but 
he  was  a  very  kind  one.  He  treated  the  officers  and 
crew  of  the  "  Peacock "  so  well,  even  providing  them 
with  clothes  (for  they  had  no  time  to  bring  anything 
from  their  own  vessel),  that  when  the  prisoners  reached 


233 

New  York,  the  officers  publicly  thanked  him  in  a  paper 
which  they  drew  up  and  signed.  This  victory,  follow- 
ing our  other  brilliant  exploits  at  sea,  gave  Lawrence 
great  fame  both  here  and  abroad. 

A  few  months  after  the  battle  between  the  "  Hor- 
net" and  the  "Peacock,"  Lawrence  was  again  the 
hero  of  a  great  sea  fight.  The  coast  of  New  Eng- 
land was  blockaded  by  a  British  fleet,  and  in  the 
harbor  of  Boston  lay  the  frigate  "Chesapeake,"  com- 
manded by  Captain  Lawrence.  He  had  been  recently 
appointed  to  this  vessel,  and  in  fact  had  been  in  com- 
mand only  ten  days  when  he  received  a  challenge  to 
fight  a  naval  duel. 

This  proposition  came  from  the  captain  of  the  Brit- 
ish frigate  "  Shannon,"  one  of  the  blockading  fleet, 
about  the  same  size  and  strength  as  the  "  Chesapeake." 
The  British  captain  sent  a  very  polite  letter  to  Cap- 
tain Lawrence ;  for  when  people  propose  to  fight  duels, 
whether  on  land  or  sea,  they  are  always  extremely 
courteous  before  they  begin  to  try  to  kill  each  other. 
The  British  captain  said,  that,  as  he  understood  the 
"  Chesapeake  "  was  now  ready  to  go  to  sea,  he  would 
like  her  to  come  out  and  fight  the  "  Shannon  "  for  the 
honor  of  their  respective  flags.  He  offered  the  Ameri- 
can captain  choice  of  fighting  ground  inside  of  certain 
limits,  and  promised  that  the  rest  of  the  British  fleet 
should  keep  far  away,  so  that  Captain  Lawrence  need 
have  no  fear  of  being  troubled  by  any  vessel  except 
the  "  Shannon." 

When  Captain  Lawrence  read  this  challenge,  he  was 
as  willing  to  go  out  and  fight  the  duel  as  the  British 


234 

captain  was  anxious  to  have  him  do  so;  but  he  knew 
that  his  vessel  was  not  nearly  so  well  prepared  as 
was  the  "  Shannon."  The  British  ship  had  been  at  sea 
for  a  long  time,  she  was  manned  by  a  crew  of  brave 
sailors,  and  her  captain  was  well  acquainted  with  his 
ship  and  his  men. 

The  case  was  very  different  with  the  "Chesapeake." 
Lawrence  had  been  on  board  scarcely  long  enough  to 
find  out  what  sort  of  a  ship  she  was,  but  he  had  been 
on  board  long  enough  to  discover  that  her  crew  was 
a  very  poor  one.  Many  of  them  were  Portuguese, 
they  had  not  been  well  drilled,  and,  worse  than  that, 
they  did  not  want  to  fight.  Few  of  them  had  been 
in  the  service  long  enough  to  have  a  taste  for  naval 
warfare;  and  if  they  had  had  their  way,  they  would 
have  let  the  "  Shannon  "  lie  outside  until  her  captain 
grew  gray,  before  they  would  go  out  and  accept  his 
challenge.  The  harbor  was  much  more  to  their  mind. 

But  Captain  Lawrence  had  no  such  idea.  He  ac- 
cepted the  challenge  without  hesitation,  and  prepared 
to  go  out  and  fight  the  duel.  He  would  have  been 
glad  enough  if  he  had  had  a  good  crew,  but  he  would 
do  his  best  with  the  crew  he  had.  He  put  his  ship 
in  fighting  trim,  and  his  men  in  the  best  order  possible, 
and  early  on  a  summer  afternoon  the  "  Chesapeake " 
went  out  to  meet  the  "  Shannon,"  which  was  boldly 
flying  the  flag  of  St.  George. 

In  those  days,  when  men-of-war,  as  well  as  all  other 
ships,  were  sailing  vessels,  the  tactics  of  naval  combats 
were  very  different  from  what  they  are  now.  Each  of 
the  commanders  of  vessels  was  obliged  to  think,  not 


235 

only  of  what  his  enemy  was  about,  but  what  the  wind 
was  about.  A  steamer  can  take  what  position  she 
pleases ;  she  can  steam  far  away  from  her  enemy,  or 
she  can  use  her  long-range  guns,  or  dash  down  upon 
her  to  break  in  her  sides  with  her  ram.  But  in  the 
old  sailing  times,  maneuvers  were  very  much  more 
difficult,  and  if  the  winds  ever  desired  to  stop  a  sea 
fight,  it  often  happened  that  they  could  do  it  simply 
by  dying  away  themselves. 

The  two  ships  sailed  this  way  and  that,  each  trying 
to  get  a  position  which  would  be  good  for  herself  and 
bad  for  the  other;  and  at  last,  when  they  were  very 
close,  so  near  that  their  captains  might  have  talked 
with  each  other,  their  cannon  began  to  speak.  From 
their  mouths  came  rolling  of  thunder.  From  each 
ship,  volleys  of  great  shot  swept  the  decks  of  the 
other,  while  the'  rattle  of  musketry  became  incessant. 
This  tremendous  fire  was  kept  up  for  nearly  ten  min- 
utes, and  in  this  short  time  the  "  Chesapeake "  lost 
nearly  one  hundred  men,  killed  and  wounded,  on  her 
upper  deck. 

Still  she  had  the  best  of  the  fight,  for  in  a  few 
minutes  she  would  have  taken  a  position  in  which  she 
could  have  raked  the  decks  of  the  enemy.  But  un- 
fortunately some  of  her  rigging  was  shot  away,  and  she 
could  not  take  advantage  of  the  wind,  and  did  not  obey 
her  helm.  Nothing  could  be  worse  than  this ;  for,  with 
sails  flapping  wildly  in  the  wind,  precision  of  sailing, 
so  necessary  in  a  sea  fight,  was  absolutely  impossible. 

But  not  only  was  the  "Chesapeake"  unable  to  take 
the  position  she  wanted,  but  she  could  not  get  out 


236 

of  the  way,  and  she  drifted  against  the  "  Shannon ; " 
and  the  rigging  of  the  two  vessels  became  entangled, 
with  the  "  Chesapeake  "  exposed  to  the  full  fire  of  the 
guns  of  the  other  ship.  In  this  case  there  was  only 
one  thing  to  be  done,  and  Captain  Lawrence  was  the 
brave  man  to  do  it.  He  must  board  the  "  Shannon," 
and  he  and  his  men  must  fight  her  captain  ^and  his 
men  hand  to  hand.  There  was  no  use  trying  to  fight 
any  longer  with  the  "  Chesapeake's  "  cannon. 

Instantly  Lawrence  ordered  the  boarders  to  be  called 
on  deck,  and  he  was  ready  to  put  himself  at  their  head 
and  dash  on  board  the  "  Shannon."  He  was  slightly 
wounded,  but  he  did  not  care  for  that.  But  now 
came  another  misfortune.  The  man  who  should  have 
called  the  boarders  to  action  by  the  roll  of  the  drum 
was  not  on  duty,  and  the  bugler  was  ordered  to  sound 
the  call.  He  was  so  frightened  by  this  awful  fight 
that  he  ran  and  hid  himself,  and  when  he  was  pulled 
out  from  his  retreat,  he  had  not  breath  enough  to  blow 
his  bugle.  Some  of  the  men  were  sent  below  to  shout 
for  the  boarders  and  call  them  on  deck,  —  a  very  slow 
procedure  at  such  a  time;  but  before  any  of  them 
arrived,  the  brave  Lawrence  was  stretched  upon  the 
deck  by  a  musket  ball. 

The  captain  of  the  "Chesapeake"  was  not  immedi- 
ately killed,  but  he  was  mortally  wounded ;  and  when 
he  was  carried  below,  he  showed  that,  near  death  as 
he  was,  he  was  still  the  bravest  man  on  board.  He 
thought  nothing  of  himself,  he  thought  only  of  his 
country  and  his  ship ;  and  his  last  orders  were,  "  Don't 
give  up  the  ship.  Fight  her  till  she  sinks." 


237 


But  it  was 
not  much  use 
trying    to    fight 
the  "Shannon"  any 

longer;  there  were  no  officers  on  the  deck  of  the 
"Chesapeake,"  except  two  midshipmen,  and  the  Brit- 
ish captain  saw  that  he  had  a  good  chance  to  board 
his  enemy.  So  his  crew  were  soon  clambering  over 
the  sides  of  the  American  vessel.  Some  wounded 
officers  rushed  up  from  below  to  help  repel  this  attack. 
Many  of  the  American  sailors  fought  bravely  even  at 
these  great  odds ;  but  some  of  the  crew,  especially  the 
Portuguese,  basely  deserted  their  comrades  and  hur- 
ried below.  The  fight  on  the  deck  of  the  "Chesa- 
peake "  was  not  a  long  one ;  and  very  soon  the  stars 
and  stripes  were  hauled  down  from  her  masthead,  and 
the  British  colors  hoisted  in  their  place. 

So  ended  the  great  duel  between  the  "  Chesapeake  " 
and  the  "  Shannon,"  and  the  last  words  of  the  brave 


Lawrence  were  never  forgotten.     "  Don't  give  up  the 
ship  "  became  the  watchword  of  the  navy. 

After  this  bloody  sea  fight,  which  lasted  only  fifteen 
minutes,  but  in  which  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty 
men  were  killed  and  wounded,  the  "  Shannon  "  sailed 
away  for  Halifax,  taking  with  her  the  "Chesapeake," 
with  the  dead  body  of  its  brave  commander  on  board. 
When  the  two  vessels  entered  the  harbor,  Lawrence 
lay  upon  the  quarter-deck,  wrapped  in  the  great  flag 
of  the  "Chesapeake,"  while  all  the  men  on  the  Brit- 
ish vessels  in  the  harbor  manned  their  yards,  and 
shouted  a  wild  welcome  to  the  victorious  "  Shannon." 
But  the  flag  which  floated  from  the  masthead  of  the 
British  frigate  held  no  more  honorable  position  than 
that  which  covered  the  dead  body  of  the  American 
hero. 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH  AND 
THE  STEAMBOAT. 

IT  will  always  be  a  source  of  commendable  pride  to 
the  people  of  New  Jersey,  that  their  State  was 
never  backward  in  the  political,  social,  or  mechanical 
progress  of  this  country.  In  fact,  several  of  the  most 
important  steps  in  great  movements  for  popular  good 
have  been  made  upon  the  soil  of  the  State. 

Among  the  claims  to  preeminence  which  New  Jer- 
sey can  make  in  this  respect  is  the  claim  that  the  first 
telegraphic  message  that  was  ever  transmitted  through 
a  wire  was  sent  at  the  Iron  Works  at  Speedwell,  near 
Morristown,  at  which  place  Professor  Morse  and  Mr. 
Vail,  son  of  the  proprietor  of  the  works,  were  making 
experiments  with  the  telegraph.  The  first  public  mes- 
sage was  sent  more  than  six  years  later  from  Wash- 
ington to  Baltimore ;  but  the  message  at  Speedwell 
stands  first,  in  the  point  of  priority,  of  all  the  dispatches 
by  magnetic  telegraph  which  the  world  has  known. 

When  Professor  Morse  conceived  the  idea  of  com- 
municating between  distant  points  by  means  of  elec- 
tricity, he  was  not  able  to  carry  out  experiments  for 
himself,  and  having  made  the  acquaintance  of  Alfred 
Vail,  son  of  the  proprietor  or  the  Iron  Works  at  Speed- 

239 


240 

well,  he  gave  up  his  business  as  a  portrait  painter  and 
went  to  Speedwell,  where  he  and  Mr.  Vail  worked 
hard  in  experimenting  with  the  new  invention.  At 
last,  when  they  thought  they  had  brought  it  to  such 
a  point  that  they  could  make  practical  use  of  it,  they 
determined  to  try  to  send  a  message  through  three 
miles  of  wire.  If  that  could  be  done,  they  believed 
they  could  send  one  to  any  distance  desirable. 

Currents  of  electricity  had  been  sent  through  long 
lengths  of  wire  by  Mr.  Morse  in  previous  experiments, 
but  in  these  cases  nothing  more  was  attempted  than 
signals;  no  words  or  message  had  been  sent,  and  the 
proposed  experiment,  therefore,  was  of  great  impor- 
tance. Its  success  or  failure  meant  success  or  failure 
to  the  magnetic  telegraph. 

The  upper  story  of  a  house  on  the  grounds  of  the 
Iron  Works  was  one  very  large  room,  and  round  the 
walls  of  this  they  stretched  their  three  miles  of  wire, 
until  the  room  was  encircled  by  lines  of  wire,  one  above 
another,  but  nowhere  touching.  At  one  end  of  this 
wire  was  placed  a  telegraphic  instrument,  and  at  the 
other,  another ;  and  with  great  anxiety,  although  with 
strong  faith  in  the  success  of  their  work,  Mr.  Vail  sent 
to  Mr.  Morse  the  first  real  telegraphic  message,  which 
ran  thus:  "A  patient  waiter  is  no  loser." 

The  house  in  which  this  first  message  was  sent  is 
still  standing,  near  the  Whippany  River,  not  far  out  of 
Morristown.  Alfred  Vail  and  Mr.  Morse,  assisted  by 
the  advice  of  Professor  Joseph  Henry,  superintendent 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  at  Washington,  con- 
tinued to  work  upon  the  telegraph  at  Speedwell;  and 


241 

as  Mr.  Vail  furnished  the  capital,  and  did  a  great  deal 
of  the  most  important  mechanical  work,  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  credit  for  this  wonderful  invention  is  due 
to  him ;  and  the  whole  system  of  telegraphy  which  now 
encircles  and  animates  the  world  may  be  said  to  have 
sprung  from  the  Iron  Works  near  Morristown. 

Another  great  invention,  as  important  as  the  tele- 
graph, made  its  first  appearance  before  the  world  in 
New  Jersey.  In  the  frozen  waters  about  the  North 
Pole,  on  the  rivers  of  Africa,  in  the  seas  of  China  and 
Japan,  on  the  stormy  ocean  about  Cape  Horn,  and 
in  almost  all  navigable  waters  of  the  world,  are  steam- 
boats and  steamships,  —  floating  palaces  on  rivers  and 
lakes,  steam  yachts  and  great  Atlantic  liners,  swift 
war  cruisers  and  line-of-battle  ships  like  floating  forts 
of  iron  and  steel ;  but  the  first  vessel  which  was  ever 
propelled  by  steam  paddled  its  way  along  the  Delaware 
River,  and  was  made  in  New  Jersey. 

In  1787  John  Fitch,  who  was  a  native  of  Connect- 
icut, but  who  lived  at  that  time  in  Trenton,  N.J.,  where 
he  had  been  a  clock  maker  and  manufacturer  of  arms, 
constructed  a  boat  which  was  moved  through  the  water 
by  means  of  a  steam  engine  on  board.  He  had  long 
been  working  on  this  invention,  making  experiments, 
and  endeavoring  to  obtain  assistance  from  people  with 
money.  He  had  applied  to  Congress  to  give  him  the 
exclusive  right  to  the  great  results  of  his  work  if  he 
should  be  successful;  but  this  aid  was  refused. 

New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Pennsylvania,  however, 
gave  him  the  right  for  fourteen  years  to  propel  vessels 
upon  the  waters  of  those  States ;  and  thus  encouraged 

STO.  OF  N.I. —  l6 


242 

he  built  the  first  steamboat.  This  little  vessel  was  im- 
perfect in  many  ways,  and  its  highest  speed  was  four 
,  miles  an  hour;  but  still  it  was  a  steam- 
boat, and  it  was  the  first  that  man  had 
ever  seen.  Of  course,  it  at- 
tracted a  good  deal 
of  attention ;  and 
after  it  had  been 
proved  that  it  could 
move  without  sails  01 
oars,  and  that  it  was 
not  dangerous,  peo- 
ple began  to  believe  in  it, 
and  a  steamboat  company  was  organ- 
ized by  Fitch.  Another  boat  was  built, 
which  carried  passengers  who  paid  their  fare, 
and  afterwards  a  larger  boat  was  constructed,  in  the 
hope  that  a  good  passenger  traffic  might  be  established. 
We  cannot  wonder  that  there  should  have  been  a 
desire  among  enterprising  people  to  establish  some  bet- 
ter method  of  transportation  in  travel  than  existed  in 
the  early  days  of  New  Jersey.  At  first  the  only  roads 
in  the  State  were  narrow  paths,  sometimes  more  than 
fifty  miles  long,  but  only  wide  enough  for  the  easy 
passage  of  a  man  on  horseback.  After  that,  better 
roads  gradually  came  into  use;  and  in  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth1  century  there  was  a  "stage  wagon," 
intended  for  the  carriage  of  merchandise,  not  passen- 
gers, which  made  a  trip  every  two  weeks  from  Perth 
Amboy  to  Philadelphia.  This  was  considered  as  a 
great  public  convenience;  because,  before  that,  there 


243 

was  no  regular  method  of  shipping  merchandise  from 
New  York  to  Philadelphia,  except  by  sea. 

After  a  time,  stage  wagons,  which  carried  passen- 
gers, began  to  run  in  some  parts  of  New  Jersey;  and 
in  1750  a  grand  stage  line  was  established,  intended 
especially  for  the  transportation  of  travelers.  In  an 
advertisement  the  proprietor  of  this  line  announced 
to  all  persons  "who  have  occasion  to  transport  them- 
selves, goods,  stores,  or  merchandise  from  New  York  to 
Philadelphia,"  that  he  would  take  them  in  "forty-eight 
hours  less  than  by  any  other  line,"  and  he  promised 
to  "use  the  people  in  the  best  manner."  It  is  stated 
that  this  trip  by  land  and  water  between  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  lasted  seven  or  eight  days,  although  it 
now  seems  almost  impossible  to  travel  so  slowly. 

Sixteen  years  afterward,  a  new  and  improved  line 
of  stage  wagons  was  established,  which  were  faster 
and  very  much  more  comfortable  than  any  which  had 
yet  been  known.  They  were  actually  mounted  on 
springs,  and  it  was  promised  that  the  trip  would  be 
made  in  two  days  in  summer,  and  three  days  in  win- 
ter. These  stagecoaches  were  so  much  swifter  than 
anything  else  of  the  kind  ever  known  in  the  State, 
that  they  were  called  "  flying  machines." 

Fifteen  years  afterward,  the  price  of  conveyance 
between  New  York  and  Philadelphia  on  one  of  these 
"  flying  machines "  was  forty  shillings  in  gold  or  sil- 
ver for  each  passenger,  and  as  much  for  each  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pounds  of  baggage. 

The  mail  facilities  in  those  days  were  as  poor  as 
the  methods  for  transportation ;  and  we  can  get  an 


244 

idea  of  the  postal  arrangements  from  an  extract  from 
a  New  York  paper  published  in  1704,  which  states, 
"  In  the  pleasant  month  of  May,  the  last  storm  put 
our  Pennsylvania  post  a  week  behind,  and  has  not  yet 
com'd  in."  But  although  this  was  rather  slow  com- 
munication, New  Jersey  was  better  off  than  many  of 
the  civilized  communities  of  the  day;  for  she  had  a 
regular  postal  system,  which  had  been  invented  by 
Colonel  John  Hamilton. 

Colonel  Hamilton's  system  was  considered  so  good, 
that  the  British  Government  gave  him  a  patent  for  it, 
and  adopted  it  for  the  mother  country,  it  being  con- 
sidered much  better  than  the  system  then  in  use. 
The  mails  were  generally  carried  in  canvas  bags  by 
men  on  horseback ;  and  this  method  of  transportation 
was  known  as  the  "express,"  as  a  horse  and  his  rider 
could  go  much  more  rapidly  than  even  the  best  "  fly- 
ing machines."  Mail  service  in  New  Jersey  greatly 
improved  before  the  end  of  the  century. 

But  it  was  very  hard  to  persuade  the  public  to  en- 
courage Fitch's  new  enterprise,  even  although  it  prom- 
ised cheaper  and  more  rapid  transportation  than  any 
methods  in  use ;  and  of  course  it  was  still  harder, 
from  the  fact  that  the  new  steamboats  had  not  yet 
gone  faster  than  a  sailing  vessel  with  a  good  breeze. 
And  so,  notwithstanding  the  value  of  a  system  of  navi- 
gation by  which  vessels  could  be  made  to  move  whether 
there  was  a  breeze  or  not,  and  in  any  direction  no 
matter  how  the  wind  was  blowing,  there  was  very  lit- 
tle support  to  the  new  steamboat,  and  the  enterprise 
was  so  unprofitable  that  it  was  given  up. 


245 

Nearly  ten  years  after  Fitch's  largest  steamboat  had 
been  sold  as  a  piece  of  useless  property,  Robert  Ful- 
ton made  a  steamboat  which  ran  on  the  Hudson  River 
at  the  rate  of  five  miles  an  hour;  and  after  this  the 
practicability  of  steam  navigation  began  to  be  slowly 
acknowledged.  But  the  waters  of  New  Jersey  were 
the  first  which  were  ever  ruffled  by  the  paddles  of  a 
steamboat. 

New  Jersey  has  another  claim  to  distinction  in  con- 
nection with  steam  navigation,  for  at  the  Speedwell 
Iron  Works  were  manufactured  some  of  the  larger 
portions  of  the  machinery  of  the  "Savannah,"  the 
first  steamship  which  ever  crossed  the  ocean. 


NEW  JERSEY  AND  THE  LAND  OF  GOLD. 

THERE  was  another  famous  American  sailor  who 
came  out  of  New  Jersey,  who  was  perhaps  of  as 
much  value  to  his  country  as  any  other   naval  com- 
mander, although  he  was  not  the  hero  of   any  great 
sea  fights. 

.  This  was  Robert  F.  Stockton,  who  was  born  in 
Princeton,  and  who  entered  the  navy  early  in  life. 
He  became  an  excellent  officer  and  a  great  fighter. 
His  disposition  to  do  battle  showed  itself  not  only  in 
leading  men  into  action,  but  in  doing  a  great  deal  of 
fighting  himself.  He  distinguished  himself  in  several 
naval  combats  during  the  war  with  Algiers.  He  com- 
manded the  "Spitfire"  during  this  war,  and,  besides 
taking  one  of  the  enemy's  .vessels  in  an  ordinary  naval 
combat,  he  captured  an  Algerine  brig,  one  might  almost 
say,  with  his  own  hands.  With  as  many  men  as  a 
small  boat  could  carry,  he  left  his  vessel,  rowed  to  this 
brig,  and  at  the  head  of  his  bold  sailors  boarded  her, 
vanquished  the  crew,  and  carried  her  off  as  a  prize. 

He  was  afterwards  transferred  to  a  larger  vessel, 
and  was  stationed  for  a  time  at  Gibraltar.  There  was 
a  very  bad  feeling  at  that  time  between  the  American 
naval  officers  and  those  of  Great  Britain.  The  War 

246 


247 

of  1812  was  over;  but  the  British  were  not  inclined 
to  treat  the  officers  of  the  United  States  Navy  with 
the  respect  which  the  latter  thought  was  due  to  them. 
Stockton  was  not  a  man  to  stand  still  and  allow  him- 
self to  be  treated  disrespectfully;  and  whenever  he 
received  anything  that  seemed  like  an  insult  from  a 
British  officer,  he  was  ready  to  fight  that  officer,  who- 
ever he  might  be.  It  is  said  that  at  one  time  he 
challenged  all  the  officers  in  Gibraltar  to  meet  him  in 
single  combat,  one  after  another,  and  he  actually  did 
engage  in  duels  with  several  of  them. 

During  the  British  war  and  the  Algerine  war,  Stock- 
ton distinguished  himself  in  various  ways,  both  on 
land  and  sea.  But  in  1821  he  undertook  a  very  im- 
portant enterprise  in  Africa.  Many  naval  vessels  had 
gone  from  the  United  States  to  Africa,  but  none  of 
them  on  an  errand  such  as  this.  Our  gallant  Jersey 
captain  did  not  sail  to  pay  tribute,  bombard  cities,  sink 
vessels,  humble  African  potentates,  or  to  shed  African 
blood;  he  went  on  an  errand  of  charity  and  humanity. 

He  sailed  from  America  in  .the  interests  of  the 
Colonization  Society,  and  his  object  was  to  make 
arrangements  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa  for  the 
establishment  of  a  colony,  to  be  composed  of  negroes 
who  had  been  slaves  in  the  United  States,  but  who 
had  obtained  their  freedom.  There  were  many  humane 
people  in  the  United  States  who  believed  that  the 
negroes  who  had  been  set  free  from  slavery  would  be 
much  happier  and  more  likely  to  prosper  in  their 
native  land,  or  in  the  land  of  their  ancestors,  than  in 
the  United  States. 


248 

In  company  with  an  agent  of  this  society,  Stockton 
sailed  for  the  west  coast  of  Africa  in  command  of  an 
armed  schooner  called  the  "Alligator;"  and  when  he 
arrived  at  his  destination,  he  took  upon  himself  nearly 
all  the  difficult  work  of  selecting  territory  suitable  for 
the  purposes  desired,  of  buying  land  from  the  savage 
natives,  of  making  them  understand  the  character  of 
the  settlers  who  were  coming  to  Africa  and  of  the 
powerful  nation  who  intended  to  protect  them.  He 
made  treaties  of  commerce  and  friendship  with  the 
ignorant  Africans,  who,  until  he  came,  scarcely  knew 
what  was  meant  by  a  treaty. 

The  performance  of  these  complicated  and  difficult 
duties  required  a  man  of  courage  and  diplomatic  ability, 
who  could  take  things  as  they  came,  and  who  was 
always  ready  to  act  promptly  in  sudden  emergencies. 
Stockton  proved  himself  to  be  that  man,  and  he  estab- 
lished in  the  native  land  of  the  negro  a  country  to 
which  the  Africans  who  had  once  been  slaves  in  the 
United  States  might  freely  go,  carrying  with  them  all 
that  they  had  learned  of  civilization  in  this  country, 
and  where  they  might  live  without  fear  of  reenslave- 
ment  by  the  warlike  tribes,  whose  principal  business 
in  life  then  was  to  capture  their  fellow-countrymen, 
and  sell  them  into  slavery. 

This  new  country,  which  was  called  Liberia,  was  at 
first  a  colony  of  the  United  States.  It  grew  and  pros- 
pered, and  in  1847  it  became  an  independent  nation, 
and  soon  after  was  recognized  as  such  by  Great  Brit- 
ain and  the  United  States;  and  since  then  it  has 
made  treaties  with  most  of  the  European  countries. 


249 

Thus  was  established  the  new  nation  of  Liberia,  and 
it  is  not  likely  that  there  was  a  man  in  the  United 
States  who  could  have  accomplished  this  great  work 
better  than  the  fighting  sailor  from  Princeton. 

After  having  finished  the  Liberian  business  on  land, 
Stockton  did  some  work  at  sea  more  in  the  line  of  a 
naval  commander.  While  sailing  along  the  coast,  the 
"Alligator"  was  sighted  by  a  Portuguese  war  vessel, 
the  "  Marianna  Flora,"  who  mistook  her  for  a  pirate, 
and  determined  to  capture  her.  But  when  the  "  Mari- 
anna" got  near  enough,  and  opened  fire  on  the 
supposed  pirate,  she  found  that  the  work  she  had 
undertaken  was  very  different  from  what  she  had  ex- 
pected. To  speak  figuratively,  the  "Alligator"  lashed 
her  tail,  opened  her  jaws,  and  began  to  fight  with  such 
fury,  that  in  twenty  minutes  the  "  Marianna "  was 
beaten  and  captured.  Stockton  put  her  under  the 
command  of  one  of  his  own  officers  with  an  American 
crew,  and  sent  her  away  as  a  prize  to  America. 

The  government  of  Portugal,  when  it  heard  what 
had  happened,  declared,  that,  as  their  country  and  the 
United  States  were  not  at  war,  our  Jersey  sailor  had 
no  right  to  take  one  of  their  vessels;  but,  as  it  was 
asserted  on  the  other  side  that  one  of  their  vessels 
had  first  tried  to  take  his,  there  seemed  to  be  a  good 
deal  of  justice  in  what  had  been  done.  However,  the 
matter  was  settled  by  his  exoneration  from  all  blame 
in  the  matter,  and  the  return  of  the  "  Marianna "  to 
Portugal. 

Some  time  later,  the  "Alligator"  fell  in  with  a 
French  slave  ship  and  captured  her;  and  it  is  stated 


250 

that  the  legal  proceedings  which  followed  this  capture 
established  the  point  of  international  law,  that  war 
vessels  of  all  nations  have  a  perfect  right  to  capture 
a  slave  ship,  wherever  it  may  be  found.  This  was 
the  first  step  in  the  work  of  breaking  up  the  slave 
trade,  which  was  then  carried  on  by  many  of  the 
civilized  nations  of  the  world. 

In  later  cruises,  Stockton  sailed  about  in  the  West 
Indies,  capturing  several  slavers,  and  also  making  a 
vigorous  war  on  pirates  and  freebooters,  who  at  that 
time  made  the  vicinity  of  these  islands  very  dangerous 
for  peaceable  vessels. 

In  1838  our  commander  was  made  a  captain.  There 
was  no  war  now  in  which  he  might  engage,  but  his 
mind  was  very  busily  occupied  in  regard  to  the  proper 
construction  of  war  vessels.  In  1841  the  United  States 
Navy  did  not  possess  a  single  steamship.  They  were 
all  old-style  sailing  vessels.  Several  steamers  had  been 
planned :  one  had  blown  up,  and  two  others  were  still 
on  the  stocks.  But  Captain  Stockton  did  not  believe 
that  if  these  were  finished  they  would  be  effective  as 
vessels  of  war.  One  great  reason  for  this  was  the 
fact  that  their  engines  were  situated  so  near  the  upper 
deck,  that  a  shot  from  an  enemy  might  easily  destroy 
them,  and  so  render  the  vessel  worthless.  Another 
objection  was  that  they  were  side-wheelers,  and  it 
would  be  a  very  easy  thing  for  a  cannon  ball  to  knock 
an  exposed  side-wheel  into  a  worthless  condition. 

Stockton's  idea  was  to  put  the  engines  and  machin- 
ery deep  down  in  the  vessel,  below  the  water  line, 
where  it  would  be  almost  impossible  to  injure  them, 


251 

and  to  have  the  ship  moved  by  means  of  a  submerged 
screw  in  the  stern,  instead  of  by  paddle  wheels.  The 
naval  constructors  and  authorities  opposed  this  new- 
fangled scheme ;  but  our  New  Jersey  sailor  was  an 
energetic  man  in  whatever  he  had  to  do,  and  he  fought 
the  naval  constructors  as  vigorously  as  he  ever  fought  a 
pirate.  Consequently  he  got  authority  from  Congress 
to  build  a  war  ship  after  his  own  plan,  and  arm  it 
with  cannon,  which  he  thought  would  be  much  better 
than  the  guns  then  in  use  in  the  navy. 

Under  Stockton's  directions,  there  was  built  at  Phila- 
delphia a  vessel  of  war,  which  he  named  the  "  Prince- 
ton," and  which  was  constructed  according  to  his 
plans.  On  her  deck  were  two  great  guns  of  wrought 
iron,  which  were  also  devised  by  him;  and  each  of 
these  carried  a  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  pound 
shot,  —  much  heavier  than  those  then  used  in  naval 
warfare. 

Great  public  interest  was  excited  in  the  "  Princeton," 
the  first  steamship  of  our  navy,  and  on  her  trial  trip 
she  was  found  to  be  an  excellent  seagoing  vessel. 
She  went  to  Washington,  and  there  started  out  on  an 
excursion,  during  which  her  great  guns  were  to  be 
tried.  There  was  a  very  distinguished  company  on 
board,  —  officers  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  several 
members  of  the  Cabinet,  and  other  guests. 

It  was  found,  however,  that  the  ship  was  much  supe- 
rior to  her  great  guns ;  for1  when  one  of  them,  named 
the  "  Peacemaker,"  was  fired,  it  exploded,  killing  sev- 
eral people,  among  whom  were  the  secretary  of  war, 
the  secretary  of  the  navy,  and  the  father-in-law  of 


252 

the  President;  while  others,  including  Captain  Stock- 
ton,  were  wounded. 

This  terrible  event  shocked  the  whole  nation;  but 
although  there  were  no  more  wrought-iron  cannon 
made,  the  building  of  naval  steamships,  which  began 
with  Stockton's  "  Princeton,"  went  steadily  on,  growing 
and  improving,  until  it  reached  the  high  point  shown 
by  the  swift  and  powerful  ironclad  men-of-war  which 
now  fly  the  stars  and  stripes. 

In  1846  Stockton  found  himself  on  the  coast  of 
California,  with  the  rank  of  commodore,  and  in  com- 
mand of  a  squadron.  Since  he  had  started  from  the 
United  States,  war  had  been  declared  with  Mexico; 
and  when  he  arrived,  the  towns  of  Monterey  and  San 
Francisco  had  been  taken  by  Commodore  Sloat,  who 
had  preceded  him.  A  state  of  war  exactly  suited 
Stockton's  disposition ;  and  as  there  was  no  more  im- 
mediate need  of  fighting  on  the  seacoast,  he  organ- 
ized a  little  army  of  marines  and  sailors  from  his 
ships,  which  was  afterwards  joined  by  a  body  of 
adventurers  and  hunters  of  the  United  States,  and 
also  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Fremont,  an  officer  of  the 
United  States  Army,  who  had  been  sent  into  that 
region  to  explore  the  country,  and  who  had  already 
done  some  fighting  with  the  little  band  under  his 
command. 

Los  Angeles,  the  Mexican  capital  of  California,  waa 
attacked  and  taken.  Commodore  Stockton  now  de- 
clared himself  the  conqueror  of  California,  and  organ- 
ized a  provision :il  government  for  the  captured  territory, 
appointing  John  C.  Fremont  as  governor. 


253 


At  the  same  time,  however,  there  was  another  Jer- 
seyman  in  the  field  intent  upon  the  capture  of  Cali- 
fornia. This  was  General  Stephen  Kearney,  an  army 
officer  who  had  made  a  wonderful  march  across  the 
plains  and  mountains  towards  the  coast.  After  he 
arrived  on  the  scene,  there  were  several  battles  with 
the  Mexican  forces  and  with  the  Indians ;  but  the  con- 
test ended  in  a  complete  victory  for  the  land  forces 
commanded  by  Kearney  from  Newark,  and  the  naval 
forces  by  Stockton  from  Princeton,  under  whom  Fre- 
mont held  his  position. 

But  now  arose  a  dispute  between  the  general  and 
the  commodore.  When  Kearney  arrived  at  Los  An- 


254 

geles,  he  would  not  recognize  the  authority  of  Fre 
mont,  who  had  been  appointed  governor  by  Stockton, 
because  he  considered  that  an  army  officer  is  higher 
in  rank  than  one  in  the  navy;  and  he  took  the  gov- 
ernorship himself.  A  court-martial  was  convened  for 
the  purpose  of  deciding  the  question,  and  it  was  set- 
tled that  Kearney  was  of  the  higher  rank,  and  he 
therefore  retained  the  governorship.  But  between  the 
two  Jerseymen  the  United  States  obtained  the  land 
of  gold. 

A  year  or  two  after  this,  Commodore  Stockton  re- 
signed from  the  navy,  and  subsequently  went  to  Con- 
gress as  a  senator  from  New  Jersey.  But  although 
no  longer  in  the  navy,  he  did  not  cease  to  work  for 
the  benefit  of  the  brave  sailors  he  had  so  often  com- 
manded and  led ;  and  he  obtained  the  passage  of  a  bill 
abolishing  the  punishment  of  flogging  in  the  navy,  thus 
adding  another  great  gift  to  his  country  and  civilization. 

When  the  country  which  had  been  captured  from 
Mexico  was  discovered  to  be  not  only  a  fertile  and 
pleasant  land,  but  a  land  filled  with  rich  treasures  of 
gold,  the  true  value  of  the  gift  made  to  the  United 
States  by  our  two  Jerseymen  became  known  and  ap- 
preciated ;  and  the  names  of  Stockton  and  Kearney, 
with  that  of  the  brave  Fremont,  will  ever  be  asso- 
ciated with  that  State  whose  principal  water  portal  is 
well  called  the  "Golden  Gate." 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
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